Heart Beats
by Tkb4
Summary: The Kira case has come to a standstill, so, to pass the time, L and Light start doing activities that are deemed as normal, to try and move the case forward. Little do they know the consequence love has in its lies...  LXLIGHT, No Lemon.
1. Chapter 1: Ebony

**Author Notes: OKAY! HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII! I'm Tkb4 and this will be my real first fanfic! :D**

**Forget my PMD one…I cannot be bothered finishing it (or even starting it for that matter), cause it's already on my Deviantart Account (which is under the same name as my one)**

**Ummm, I fail at saying anything witty and stuff in these author comments, but…Um, enjoy the fic?**

**Disclaimer: Deathnote isn't, and never will be mine. But I have L and Light locked up in my closet right now…*creepy stare***

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><p>Chapter 1: Ebony.<p>

The night air was still, the sky pitching itself in a blanket of darkness preparing itself for the autumn winds that were scheduled to arrive early the next morning.

But still the stars shone so earnestly, forever to light the way through the sea of drenching twilight. Hidden behind a palate of clouds the moon silently broke through, sending its illumination to the city nestled below. It traveled through the clear windows of the skyscraper recently built near the western edges of the city, to stop and rest on the peaceful features of a man sleeping.

Well, if sleeping meant closing your eyes and hearing nothing but the clacking sound of fingers thoroughly scanning across a keyboard, then _yes._

Light Yagami opened one amber eye wearily, the small but powerful artificial light emanating from a nearby laptop screen reflecting off his dilating pupils.

A slight weight on the left side of the double bed made the mattress tilt downwards on an awkward angle, and it made Light's body tilt in a downwards direction as well.

Not really used to sharing a double bed, the teen was quite annoyed albeit the circumstances. No, in fact, the circumstances he was under right now made his annoyance rate rise dramatically.

But, if he were to lash out without good reason, his _'Kira'_ percentage would rise as well.

_Still…_

"Ryuzaki…?" He muttered in a slurred tone, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. The bed creased a little as the said man situated in his usual hunched over position shifted his weight and his gaze to look at the younger of the two.

Eyes of ebony essence rose to meet Light's countered hazel ones. A shrill silence hung in the air, giving time for the teen's senses to rush up and meet him so he could mentally (_and possibly physically_) prepare for the attack the detective was surely plotting.

But all that Ryuzaki did was tilt his head slightly to imply a quizzical look before replying, "Yes, Light-kun?"

_Geez_, for the world's greatest detective, this guy sure didn't catch on fast.

"Couldn't you maybe just show a little consideration and maybe stop working for a while so I can get some rest?" Light gestured a hand towards the buzzing silver laptop.

But as the panda eyed man blinked and his thumb found its way on the edge of his teeth, Light knew he should've chosen a better approach.

"I'm quite sure you know the answer to that Light-Kun, unless I underestimated your intelligence and you are in fact as stupid as Matusda-san. I must use all of my time to work on this case, or Kira will continue his reign of evil."

Light rolled his eyes and bit back a snide remark, before replying, "But don't you ever need to sleep though?"

"Sleep isn't an option for me either. As you must have noticed, I am an insomniac." L turned his gaze back to his computer and continued typing. "And don't think that small piece of information is enough to find out my real name, so I advise you not to even try."

Light lifted his left wrist to show the handcuff that uncannily bound him to this irritating man. "I couldn't even if I wanted to, which I don't. As long as I'm connected to you, I'm not going anywhere."

Light couldn't even believe he was handcuffed to the world's most famous detective, L. It was a strange turning of events, for the man who never showed his face to anyone had handcuffed himself to his greatest suspect. And it wasn't exactly a walk in the park either.

L had to be the definition of eccentric, some as to go as far and say freak. The older man sat with his knees curled into his chest, had an obsession for sugar, held everything as if it were diseased and had a proclamation against wearing socks.

His appearance suited his ecstatic tendencies as well. His hair was an unkempt raven forest, parts sticking up here and there like a bird's nest. His skin was as pale as snow, and bags under his eyes indicated lack of sleep. The same clothes he wore, day in and day out, consisted of a long sleeved white shirt and baggy jeans that went in comparison with everything else that was just entirely _L_.

"The reasons for you to be handcuffed to me are entirely necessary, because I suspect you. But these were specifically created so that we have at least a variable distance between us so we can be appropriately mobile."

"Appropriately mobile? Ryuzaki, I'm sharing a bed with you."

"And so goes the saying, 'I'll warm the bed for you.'"

Light sighed and sunk back down in the pillows, slightly defeated by the fact that L just didn't _get it._ No matter how smart the guy was, the pride he had taken in solving this case had taken over his entire life.

Nothing else mattered to the detective. And when he was done with apprehending the childish murderer, then he would move on to another big case that would take up all his spare time once again.

And when that time came, Light would be cleared of all suspicion. He wouldn't have to be handcuffed to L anymore after all this ended.

That in itself strengthened his resolve to help solve the case and rid him of the thing that made his life _hell._

_If he was going down, he'd drag L down with him._

"Hey…"

**Clack. Clack. Clack.**

"Ryuzaki?"

**Clack. Clack. Clack.**

"Ryuzaki…?"

**Clack. Clack. Cl-**

"RYUZAKI!"

"Yes Light-kun?" L blinked those large eyes of his.

Light gritted his teeth and raised an eyebrow. "What was that about?"

"What was what about?"

"Why did you ignore me?"

"Because I knew it would irritate you, and on the whim that perhaps Kira acts out of anger, it thus raises your percentage by about 1.5%"

"Oh my god."

"Do you worship Kira as your God now?"

"No! Seriously, you're annoying as hell Ryuzaki! Why do you keep doing this?"

L raised a finger to his lip in thought. "It is a way of investigating, Light-kun."

Light blinked his eyes in confusion. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. But of course, it was only expected of L. When you thought you knew what he was going to say, he came out with something totally unpredictable that kept your head spinning for days.

But that's what had made L so successful. And it wasn't a problem with Light, who could toss L's words over in his mind and come up with a plausible answer in just under a few seconds.

Light grimaced and crossed his arms. "Do you find this _fun?_"

Silence from the keyboard. "_Excuse me?_"

"Do you find all this fun?"

"Implying…_which?_"

Light rubbed his temples in frustration. " Well the fact that you imply that I'm Kira all the time-"

"Not all the time, Light-kun, but I do suspect you."

"And the fact that you spend every second of the day on that damned computer!"

L arched his eyebrows forward and bore those endless black pits into his own eyes again, admittedly sending chills down Light's spine.

"There is nothing _fun_ about a mass murderer who can kill people with only a name and a face. There is nothing _fun_ about trying to catch a practically elusive criminal. And there is certainly nothing _fun_ about putting our own _lives_ on the line for this case."

Finding a gap in L's retaliation, he pushed even further. "Well, what do you find fun?"

L sighed and gave an unimpressed glance at the teen. "You _must_ be as stupid as Matsuda. I just said that there is nothing-"

But he was cut off when Light gave an impromptu wave of his hand and began to shout, "No! I mean, what do you do in your spare time? Maybe do you go to the movies, or go to the park, or read a book, or…"

"I have no spare time to spare, Light-kun. This case is more important than the day to day activities that normal citizens do."

Light's temper burst. "Just because you're the famous L, doesn't mean you have to think of yourself as being higher than others! All you do is sit inside every day and let your brain rot away in front of that computer screen! It's sorta like how Kira portrays himself as God!"

He heard a slight gasp from the man next to him, and all of a sudden the air was constricted with tension.

L turned, giving a look of pure venom to the teen. "10 percent."

Light mentally berated himself. _Fucking L and his equally fucked up mindgames._

Light threw his hands in the air in defeat and turned over to his side, facing away from L. "Whatever. Do whatever the hell you like. It's not like I fucking care."

"Language, Light-kun."

"Oh shut up."

After a few moments of silence, the room was all of a sudden plunged into darkness as L closed his laptop with a soft click.

There was a rustle of blankets, and before Light realised what was happening, he felt L's warm breath on his neck and the man's voice whispering in his ear.

"I am just as equal as anyone else, and nor do I favour myself in god like proportions. I will show you, that I can have what you call _'fun'_, and I will show you that I am just as normal as you are Light-Kun."

Light could feel L lean closer, but he wasn't sure the detective could close any sort of gap between them. "And then you will see. _Justice will prevail._"

And as suddenly as he had come, he leaned back into his crouched position and stared off into the unrelenting darkness.

Light closed his eyes, perfectly aware that his heart rate had risen inexplicably higher in the moments that L had been close.

Oh well. At least those damn clacking noises had stopped.

_Round 1 to him tonight._

But Light didn't realise the extent on how much real _shit_ he had gotten himself into.

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><p><strong>Reviews please? And constructive criticism is good as well! NO FLAMES! D:<strong>


	2. Chapter 2: Tongue 'Tied'

**Author Notes: Alright! I'm back again with another heated chapter!  
><strong>

**I have to thank you all for your lovely reviews! I feel absolutely loved! :D *shotdead***

**Um, school's been a sort of pain, and I gotta thank my "brother" Marcus for letting me use his computer to write and upload chapters.  
><strong>

**I also thank my friends Kim, Mishca and Georgia, for helping me with my fanfiction all the way :D**

**Alright, um, Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Deathnote doesn't belong to me and neither does Caramell Dansen or Miku Hatsune. But the story does :D**

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><p>Chapter 2, Tongue 'Tied'<p>

The morning came quicker than expected, bringing its promise of the high ride winds that only a Tokyo autumn could provide. Birds cried shrilly, preparing for the storm of azure leaves to flood the skies as trees shed for the preparation of the colder months to come.

The awakening sun filtered through the windows and danced across Light's resting features. The teen's eyes fluttered slightly as he turned in his sleep, obviously finding false peace in the land of dreams inside his head.

His slumber was cut short all of a sudden when he felt, rather than heard, a sharp ringing cut through his brain. Realization of the song caused him to raise an eyebrow in a weary confusion.

Why was _Caramel Dansen_, a song that his younger sister, Sayu, adored emanating from an alarm clock that had been set on his bedside table?

Why was there an alarm clock there in the first place?

Light sighed in annoyance and placed a finger on the snooze button, turning away from the chibi anime icon that was delicately etched on the clock's surface. Forcefully closing his eyes, he wasn't surprised to feel the awkward tension in the air as L shifted on the bed to turn towards him.

"Light-kun. Time to wake up."

Light groaned and pulled the sheets tighter up to his face in an attempt to hide. But his attempt wasn't obviously deemed so as he felt something exceedingly cold dribble down the back of his neck.

The aggravated teen sat up in shock and fished his hand down the collar of his shirt. He felt something cold and wet in his palm, and he pulled the contents up to eye level.

_A half melted ice cube_.

Light glowered at the melting water block and stiffly turned to L, who was stirring a small glass of what looked like orange juice. The detective raised the glass to his lips, took a sip, and lazily directed his gaze at his roommate. "Good morning, Light-kun."

Light bit his lip and set the ice cube aside, but otherwise said nothing. L tilted his head slightly to the side in curiosity and repeated, "Good morning, Light-kun."

"Why did you put an ice cube down my shirt?" Was that all Light could think of to say, his hands balling into shaking fists as red threatened to cloud his sight.

L leaned over, pointed to the morning device and replied, "Because you didn't abide by Hatsune Miku-san's music."

Light figured he meant the anime idol, before saying, "I could've gotten up by myself, you know."

"But even with the music, you refused to rouse, though you know very well by now that we must be up as soon as the sun rises. I also wanted to see your reaction to the sudden cold impact on your otherwise warm skin."

Light just stared. His brain, which was feeling groggy from lack of sleep, tried to make sense of L. _What the hell was wrong with this guy?_

"Why?" _Stupid brain._ _Why couldn't it come up with a better answer then just 'why'?_

What the detective said next made Light's already exhausted brain implode in on itself.

L gave a small evil smirk and said in a voice with a hint of amusement, "I thought it would be fun."

~3

**Clack. Clack. Clack.**

And there was that annoying sound again. Light practically_ gnawed_ at his lip in an attempt to block out the noise as L rapidly skirted that damn keyboard with swift fingers.

**Clack. Clack. Clack.**

The small pain that had been nestled at the very edges of Light's mind suddenly reared up and bared it's fangs like a rabid dog.

The teen rubbed his temples and stood, meaning to go to the elevator and down to the pharmacy unit that had been installed along with the building. He needed painkillers to kill the pain that surely wasn't going to go away on its own.

But he all of a sudden stopped short as his wrist was tugged in the other direction. He turned to see that L hadn't made any attempt to move and follow along after him.

"Ryuzaki. Let's go."

Without taking his eyes from the computer screen, L replied, "Do you need to go to the bathroom?"

Light rubbed the back of his neck. He could see where this was heading. "Um, well, no. But can we just go anyway?"

"Why?"

Light rolled his eyes in annoyance and crossed his arms impatiently. If he told the detective he needed painkillers to stop the headache caused by L's typing, that would eventually lead to other questions. Even if Light lied about his answer, he was sure the detective could use his deduction skills to see around his mask. Right now, Light's pride wasn't in for another round of beating.

"I just…I do need to go to the bathroom." _Great strategy Light,_ he thought to himself.

"But you just said you didn't"

"Well, now I need to."

"You showed hesitation in your reply, and the fact that you want me to abide by your wishes and allow me to follow you to wherever you're going is suspicious. Or maybe you want to deprive me from working on the Kira case, but that in itself is suspicious, because with your undergoing personality right now, if you were indeed Kira, you would want to look as innocent as possible by henceforth allowing me to work while you work beside me."

_Oh God_…Here came the investigator to clean up the mess that Light had started.

"Ryuzaki…" Light said in an almost pleading tone.

"Or, maybe you want me to follow you somewhere alone so you can kill me while no one is around. But we are already alone, since the rest of the Taskforce hasn't arrived just yet, as it is only 7:00am precisely. Come to think of it, we are always alone when we are in the bedroom, and you still make no attempt to kill me."

"Ryuzaki!" Light was sure his skull was splitting from the sheer pain and the torment L was giving him.

"But thus we are never alone, because there are always security cameras around, and if not security cameras, then infrared cameras instead. Unless you tried to lure me outside, then I would be in trouble. But I would not be as stupid as to let you lead me somewhere alone so you could kill me. But let's say I somehow survived your killing, though as unlikely as it is I would survive. I could find out how you killed, gather the evidence, and then you would be convicted!"

"Do you want me to kill you now!" Light shrieked, hands tearing through his hair. _Goddamnit! Enough was enough!_

"Is that a confession?" Light was sure he could see a small amused smirk danced across the detective's pale lips.

"NO! I'M NOT KIRA!" It was then that Light acted out of sheer fury, and he yanked at his wrist to make the detective move.

L, who wasn't prepared, all of a sudden came toppling to the ground, his chair spinning in his wake. He rose, clutching his head, and widened his eyes at the teen that had a hand covering his mouth in shock.

"Holy shit! I didn't know what-" Light began, trying to take back what he had dished out, but was interrupted midway when L grabbed his own wrist and yanked as hard as he could muster.

Light came crashing to the floor as well, his hands spread out in front of him to stop his fall. There was an "Oof!" and a whir of black and brown, when Light realized he had cushioned himself rather awkwardly on something that wasn't the cold floor.

He opened his eyes, which had been clenched shut from instinct, and he found L's own eyes staring back at him with a flicker of confusion and something else he couldn't portray.

He also saw himself reflected in those black orbs, and it wasn't until after a few silent moments that he realised he had just fallen on top of the world's greatest detective.

He was pressed tightly against L, and as they made a frenzied attempt to escape, they both undoubtedly realized that the long handcuff chain had tied them up so that their efforts were fruitless without someone else to help them.

_Stupid handcuffs._

L was still trying to wriggle his way from under the teen, his hands bound to his sides, but this just made the heat from Light's cheeks travel to every inch of his body.

After a few seconds of failure, L slumped and let out an irritated sigh. "Well. This deems as a rather awkward situation, Light-kun."

"You're fucking telling me…" Light mumbled, trying very hard to ignore the solid fact that L's breath was tickling his neck.

L sighed again, causing Light to shift uncomfortably. This caused the detective to widen his eyes in curiosity and he leaned closer, breathing long and deep on Light's exposed skin.

Light twitched his head upwards frantically, still trying to avert his eyes from L's. The detective smiled mischievously, and leaned closer. Pursing his lips open only slightly, he exhaled softly, drawing the breath slowly in a zigzagged pattern down the teen's neck.

Light let out a slight moan, much to the amusement of the man he was pinned to, before letting his forehead rest against L's cheek and saying through clenched teeth, "W-what're you doing, Ryuzaki?"

L brushed his lips against Light's earlobe, before whispering tantalizingly, "Is this making Light-kun uncomfortable?"

Light gulped what little moisture he had within his throat. He did not want to admit that, despite this unwanted contact being particularly creepy, Light felt almost…_exhilarated._

Light shook his head and let out a jutted gasp. _What the hell was he thinking?_ The man was just doing this to torment him.

_And it was working._

The brief shake of Light's head caused L to raise an eyebrow in interest, and he replied in a seducing tone, "No? Then maybe Light-kun won't mind if I…"

It was then that L nipped rather (affectionately?) at his suspect's ear, causing Light to tense his body toward the detective.

_Motherfucking L and his equally motherfucking mind games._

What was he getting out of this anyway? What reason did he have to break down Light's barriers so easily that Light wanted to do the same…? This was just some investigating method, right?

_No._ This wasn't a way to get to the supposed Kira inside.

_No._ This was a way to get to _Light._

But it didn't actually mean anything. Light knew that for sure. It was just a way for L to dig underneath Light's skin and to get him to reveal his deepest secrets. How he could submit to the detective, and when Light was out in the open, that's when L was strike. Then it would all be over.

But Light still couldn't get why those significant small thoughts were beginning to take over his entire mind, blocking out any other rational reason,

_He wanted this. He wanted L. He wanted to-_

All of a sudden, those thoughts were zipped away and soon forgotten when they heard the distinctive hum of the elevator doors opening and footsteps to follow after.

L arched away from Light straight away, and craned his gaze to look upwards to look at the Taskforce members that had just walked in.

Silence hung thick in the air, but was broken when L said in a monotonous voice, "Ah, brilliant. As you can see, we seem to be in a predicament here. Would you mind…?"

How L could revert so easily back into his usual emotionless self, Light didn't know. It was now hard to believe that a few seconds before, L had practically been kissing his neck…

Light glared at the detective. L had won that round. He had managed to infiltrate Light's walls, and had actually made the teen want to kiss him back…

_Not that they had been kissing._ And not that Light ever wanted to kiss that damn pervert. Misa was right.

Suddenly, a voice rose over the awkward tension. "Um, would you guys like some help?"

_…Stupid Matsuda._

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><p><strong>YAY! I finished it!<strong>

**NO FLAMES!**

**You're reviews to me are what sugar cubes are to L. I don't mind constructive criticism either. My writing sorta needs work anyways ^_^;**


	3. Chapter 3: Droplets and Pastry

**AN: Hey everyone! I'm updating really fast again! Wow, two chapters in two days in a row! I'm on a roll!**

**I particularly liked this chapter, since it's sort of (not really a major) turning point in the story for the way L sorta thinks (don't hit me), and the fact that he wants to prove to Light that he can be decently normal?**

**Heh. I like Yaoi :3**

**Speaking of Deathnote, tis' my birthday on Monday next week (15 years, hell yeah!)! I'm getting the entire series of Deathnote (9 discs total), an L wig to complete my cosplay, and a multi region dvd player cause my dvd player sucks like that :3**

**I'm also going to an anime convention (my first, hooray!) later on in the year to sum it up! I'm sooooooooooooo excited :3**

**Um, enjoy! Your reviews are gold to me :3**

**Disclaimer: Deathnote doesn't belong to me. If it did, Light would've kissed L already. XD**

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><p><strong>Chapter 3, Droplets and Pastry.<strong>

"Morning, Ryuzaki." Light yawned, stretching his arms above his head as Caramel Dansen droned on endlessly and everlastingly annoying in the background. The sun had failed to show this morning, causing the sky to turn a dark and depressing gray.

L didn't say anything, but abided by inclining his head towards the teen. It was like the _accident_ from the day before had never happened, but both knew it was a subject worth avoiding.

Light swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood, silencing the atmosphere of Miku's music with a touch of his finger. He raised an eyebrow and eyed the anime clock in slight disgust.

"I'm going to have to endure that for a while, aren't I?"

But once again, his roommate remained as silent as ever, unusual for a morning person. Not like there really was a set morning for him anyway. The guy never slept a wink.

_Maybe it's all the sugar_, Light thought to himself as he straightened the blanket up against the edge of the bed. However, the image of him consuming nothing but sugary sweet treats all day caused the teen to nearly retch out loud.

The chain rattled as he bit his tongue and began to make his way over to the bathroom that was connected to their room. L followed, hands shoved in his pockets and his back arched over.

Light opened the sliding door and stepped inside the large, white tiled room. Perfectly aware that the detective was only standing mere _feet_ away from him, and perfectly aware that they were indeed alone in the bathroom, Light began to unbutton his shirt.

He eyed L warily, but was somewhat surprised to see the man trailing a finger across the surface of the sink, seemingly inspecting it for dust.

Light turned away and rubbed a hand through his hair as his shirt fell to the floor. He knew L was distracting himself from even making eye contact with the teen because of the incident from yesterday. Somehow, in the detective's screwed up mind, the silent treatment was supposed to be an apology?

Light turned the silver handle in the shower and shuddered as water, cold as L's personality was at times, cascaded over his bare arm. He quickly stripped off the rest of his clothing, and without even glancing at the man standing innocently behind him, he stepped inside the now steaming shower cubicle, as if the inviting hot water would wash away all of his troubles.

Oh, if only it could.

L let out the sigh he had been holding and began to pace back and forth, causing the chain to rattle slightly. Somehow, standing here and waiting for Light to have a shower was harder than every other morning he had to do so.

He could almost hear the way the water ran down his young accomplice's naked body, and he abruptly turned his gaze from the door to the floor.

L put a finger to his lip and began to nibble at his already chewed nail, a habit he had kept even from childhood.

Of course it was awkward. They were indeed handcuffed together, and sometimes L couldn't do anything but help his blooming curiosity as he glanced, unknowingly to the younger teen, at Light as the younger man prepared in his morning routines.

The teen's skin was an interesting shade of pink tinted just slightly with a sort of tan ochre, to go in contrast with his amber locks and eyes.

L frowned and scratched mindlessly at his own pale agenda.

Maybe he ought to get out more, like Light had _suggested_. Then maybe he could build up the confidence to look just as positively _stunning_ as the said man.

L scratched his head. No, that wasn't it. He already had confidence in his deduction abilities. It was the fact that he just generally didn't _care _about his appearance whatsoever. Heck, he even only bathed at least every three days at the least.

What was the reason to look appealing when knowledge was always regarded as gold? But possibly exterior appearance helped to influence others to the fact that one was knowledgable.

The entire Taskforce crew came to work every day in business suits, but personally L thought it gave Soichiro Yagami the chance to show off his girth a little better.

Did Light's father take pride in his large exterior outage the same way that Matsuda took pride in his stupid capabilities?

L blinked as the water all of a sudden muted, and Light's hand reached upwards visible over the edge of the shower, inclining to L.

The detective rolled his eyes and handed Light a nearby towel. It was at that exact moment that L realized something that hadn't ever crossed his mind before.

_Light doubted L's capabilities._

He thought that the man was a social outcast who only cared about getting his own opinion stuck and accepted while no one else's mattered.

L scratched his chin. That wasn't _entirely_ true. Though he did admit that normal people's tendencies tended to confuse him even more than the average criminal's mind did.

Just as he was recalling a memory where he once overheard a conversation where the girl was crying because she couldn't afford a pair of shoes, the door of the shower opened.

Light stepped out, towel covering him waist down so that only his bare midriff showed. L was busy interesting himself by examining the way the water beads ran down the younger man's skin, when Light raised an eyebrow and asked, "What're you staring at?"

L tilted his gaze to stare up at the ceiling and replied monotonously, "Nothing. It is just that I am sort of jealous."

Light was taken aback. Jealous? Of _what?_

"What do you mean?"

L turned away and scratched at the back of his head. His voice was slightly muffled as he replied. "It's just…I wish I had a body like yours, Light-kun."

**3**

"I want cake."

"Well then go get some out of the fridge."

"We don't have any at the moment though."

"Nice try, Ryuzaki, but I saw Watari come in yesterday carrying a huge bundle."

Light turned in amused interest as L shuffled over to the large white fridge and opened the door. Stacking box after box in his arms, the older man then dragged his feet over to the bin and placed his pile on top of the lid.

"Now there isn't."

Light stared, goggle-eyed. Would L even dare to go as far as to throw out his _entire _cake collection just to prove his point?

He soon realized it wasn't as it seemed as L turned with a smile and said in a voice with a hint of eagerness, "Let's _make_ a cake."

Yep. Definitely too soon.

Light took another sip of his coffee before replying with a sigh, "Why? You have a whole pile there." L shook his head. "They're in the bin now, and it would be unsanitary."

Light rolled his eyes. Was this meant to have any _rational_ meaning behind this? Was it another one of L's investigating methods that would drive him completely and utterly insane?

L padded over to the cupboard and drew out two aprons. He tossed one to Light, who caught it in one outstretched hand. He unrolled it to see it was pink and decorated with a floral pattern.

_Damn L._

L withdrew with an armful of ingredients and placed them on the bench. As he was tying up his plain blue apron, Light gestured to a jar. "What do you expect to do with _tomato paste_?"

L gripped the jar and levered it to eye level. "Oh? I must've mistaken it for jam."

Light wrinkled his nose and bean ticking off the ingredients on his fingers. "Flour, sugar, eggs, chocolate…You've pretty much got it covered Ryuzaki."

As L began to measure out the sugar carefully, Light tied his apron. It was then, out of the blue, that L asked, "Have you ever heard of Jamie Oliver, Light-kun?"

Light lifted his head from measuring flour and replied bluntly, "No."

But of course, L had to explain.

"He's a very famous British chef. Unknowingly to most, he is actually a sort of inspiration of mine." Light gave L a look of confusion, but the detective continued nonetheless. "When I was younger, at one time I aspired to be as great as chef as he was. But alas, time and fate caught up with me, and I failed to live one of my many childhood dreams. It's funny, because actually another time I wanted to be a pirate-"

"And why are you telling me this?" Light replied in a slightly snide tone. L never took his eyes off his spoon. "No particular reason."

Light did nothing but slightly frown as silence bored through their skulls. Overhead, the clock ticked and the time read 6:00. Another whole hour before work began. How was he going to live through this?

He stole a glance at L to see him spooning sugar into his mouth, and he snatched it from the detective's grasp. "Watch it! We need to use that, you idiot!"

Light didn't have time to retaliate as a fistful of flour was hurtled at his face. He coughed and stumbled backwards, tripping on his own feet and falling onto the kitchen floor. He rubbed the dusty powder off his eyes and cried, "What the hell, Ryuzaki!"

He was answered by another dash of flour, and the proceeding of an egg being planted on his head. Light stood angrily and swung a punch at L, squaring him in the jaw and sending him flying halfway across the kitchen.

The detective rubbed his head and stiffly turned back toward Light, before muttering, "Ow." He then shakily stood, and hurtled a roundhouse kick to his opponent.

Light miraculously dodged out of the way just in time, and reached backwards on the bench to find a weapon. His hands touched something rather sticky, but he threw it nonetheless without a second thought.

The lob of butter flew and hit its target smack bang in the middle of the forehead. L wiped it away with a swift flick of the wrist, before perching _gorilla_ style on the ground. "It's war."

The following rather amusing ten minutes proceeded with the two charging at one another, hitting, dodging, throwing things and plain out having a 'war' when L bowled his last fistful of flour.

His jumble came to a rest on Watari's face, as the kindly old man had come to check on the source of the noise.

Something in the butler's eye caused L to immediately hunch over in silent surrender and shuffle out the door, dragging a fuming Light along behind him.

For the second time that morning, Light was busy cleaning himself while L stood outside calmly. The damage done to the teen had been far worse than L, who merely had to brush stray flour out of his hair and wipe the butter remnants from his forehead. Lucky for him, his combatant wasn't a fair shot when participating in a kitchen war.

L was now licking away at a strawberry ice-cream cone that he had managed to sneak before Light had dragged him away from the mini fridge in their room.

As the detective was whisking his tongue around the edges, Light came from the shower, water staining his shining chest once more. L stopped in mid-lick to study his strenuous roommate, when Light rubbed his temples and said, "Sometimes, Ryuzaki, you have the maturity level of a five year old."

With the words that L would retaliate with next, Light never thought he'd ever hear in all his years of living.

"Your _penis _is the size of a five year old's, Light-kun."

Light stood, flabbergasted. It wasn't the fact that he was insulted (far from it, because his genitals were the right size for someone his age, thank you very much). It was the fact that L had actually said something so…_obsolete._

_Still, to teach that smartass…_

Light walked over, causing L to back away slightly in caution, when he snatched the ice cream out of the detective's grasp. The older man was about to protest, when Light went ahead and stuck it pin point on the middle of L's forehead. He gestured to the cone, and replied, "Look. You're a pretty unicorn now. _Ass._"

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><p><strong>*coughs* I so did not rethink one of the sentences at the last minute and add the word naked to add tension to the scene <strong>

**Um, review please? I shall reward you with a… *looks around and spots something* this stick. Yes. A stick, because sticks are nice (I did not say that in regards to the Yaoi reference, btw! LOL! There is no detailed Lemon in this fic, but there is definitely sexual tension XD)**

**No flames. If you don't like Yaoi, don't read. Simple as that.**

**Constructive Critisicm is great too! :D If you point out my faults, I fix them, and together we'll both be happy! :D**


	4. Chapter 4: A City Stroll

**AN: Hey, it's me once again! XD**

**Um, Chapter Four is up now, and I'm going to sum up perhaps a few mistakes from earlier chapters. In Chapter 3, I lack writing how they disconnect the chain when Light takes a shower. Solution: Clothes magically come off without complications of chain. Get it? :3**

**Okay, I'm a little disappointed with this chapter, and make no mistake that the girls I mention in this chapter are just brief mentions of my friends, as a thanks for helping me on the Fic, and in no way will they intervene with the story and are not OC's.**

**Thanks for all your reviews! I try, but fail at writing at times XD**

**Keep Reading! ^_^**

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><p>Chapter Four, A City Stroll<p>

The atmosphere within the building was stale as the taskforce continued about their daily work. L span mindlessly in his chair, his finger to his lip as the same thoughts kept running through his head.

The Kira case had taken a small, but unsuccessful, turn. For some unknown reason, the criminal related killing had dropped sharply in the last week, almost as if Kira was taking a break from his killing, like the way the murders had abruptly stopped during the period of time Light was confined.

However, the only criminals being killed were lesser ones, even if there were those that had huge crime rates and were broadcasted recently on television.

The killings happened at different paces. At first, the criminals killed towards the beginning had died only of heart attacks, until a few days ahead the killing lessened in speed but the variety in which criminals died had changed as well.

It was almost as if this Kira had started from the very beginning, much like the way the first Kira had used different methods of killing prior to the deaths of the FBI agents.

Another thing was a little off about this new Kira as well. It seemed this Kira was perhaps…_apprehensive_ with murdering criminals, almost like the guilt was finally catching up with them.

L turned to look over at Light, who was busying himself by checking the various locations in which the criminals wound up dead.

On the off chance, though the evidence stood against it (_much to L's dismay_), that Light was in fact _still_ Kira, he was putting up a brilliant act in defiance to the accusations made by the detective himself.

Of course, it was only to be expected from the perfect young teen. Perfect face, perfect posture…

_It was all a perfect act._

Light flicked his eyes over to see L staring at him with a hardened look, and he raised a bored eyebrow at the older man.

The detective had been doing that lately. _No, scratch that._ He had been staring rather creepily like that, emotionless as a chalkboard, ever since they had first met. It was like he believed he could see through Light with eyes as dark and as deep as his.

But there was _nothing_ to see through.

He sighed, rolled his own eyes, and looked back at his computer. Images popped up off a criminal who had jumped off the top of a prison building and suffered a lethal concussion, dying immediately afterwards.

If they didn't find a good lead soon, the case wasn't going to go very far at this rate. Of course, this absurd game they were playing with Kira was just going to make them end up at all these dead ends if they didn't find out how one killed using the powers that were passed on between individuals themselves.

Light cupped his chin in his hands. Let's just say that _if_ he was in fact Kira before the powers were passed on and his memory erased on any killings he had indeed committed. Why would he have passed his powers on in the first place?

That was an easy question. He had been confined securely supposedly under his own wishes, and if the method of killing was at a danger of being discovered by L himself, then it made perfect sense to pass them on so there was no hard evidence to prove he was guilty except for Light's word against himself.

Yet, he still couldn't get why he would get rid of his own memories as well. If he was Kira, and still conscious of doing the killings, then he could just lie his way past any questions.

The question in itself was how did he kill, and how did he pass the powers on so easily without L detecting absolutely anything?

_Unless, _the powers were some sort of supernatural phenomenon, however Light hadn't been one to believe in the like until this case had started.

If the passing of the power, or maybe even the power itself, was actually under the influence of some God, then this case was just going to end up left unsolved.

But that idea was completely absurd. If it actually was a sort of Deity that had begun all of this in the first place, the needing of a name and face to kill surely wouldn't be required.

It had to be a human doing these insane killings. There was no other explanation for it.

But Light felt absolutely sick to the stomach knowing that he could've been Kira before all this business with the handcuffs.

The teen tensed a little, his heart beating wildly as the chain rattled nervously against the table. The sudden movement caused L to cock his head to the side and inquire, "Is Light-kun alright?"

Light rubbed a hand to his forehead and mumbled in a static reply, "M'yeah. I just need a little fresh air, that's all."

L blinked. "That is quite a wonderful idea, actually. I too could also use some fresh air." He then turned to the rest of the Taskforce members. "Everyone, you currently have the rest of the day off. Use this time wisely to relax and enjoy yourselves, if you please."

Soichiro Yagami was the first to protest. "Why the sudden dismissal, Ryuzaki? You yourself told us this case was more important than anything, and that we should-"

"I mean what I say, Yagami-san, however the case isn't coming with any leads anytime soon. I never said you had to take up my offer anytime soon, and you can stay and continue working if you want. Besides, you have all been working hard enough as it is that it would be considered unhuman, even in my standards, to spend every waking moment here at the Taskforce Building, bound under unfair regulations."

At this, Light turned to glare icily at L. Inhuman circumstances indeed, especially if you were handcuffed to the world famous L.

The detective chose to ignore Light's unfathomed eye inclination, and got up from his seat. "Come, Light-kun. Let us take a walk. There is something I would like to discuss with you."

The clouds were painted feather against the valour blue sky, and a light breeze brought about pleasing scents to waft through the air.

L lifted his nose and sniffed like a curious canine, then all of a sudden turned a sharp left and began to cross the empty road, dragging an irritated Light along behind him.

He came to a stop at a bakery window, pressed up against it like a child and eyeing the array of sweet pastry items on display. Without a word, and before Light could protest, L swiftly padded through the shop door, his old sneakers scuffing the concrete path as he went.

The door opened with a jubilee tinkling sound, and L averted his gaze upwards to stare at the bell positioned on a thin string above them. Muttering something that sounded like the word 'remarkable', L shuffled over to the counter.

A young girl, who only looked about a few years younger than Light, stood behind the bench, wiping it down of breadcrumbs with a ragged cloth. Her brown bangs fell over her face, and it took almost a full thirty seconds to realize a customer had just walked in.

Pulling an earphone sheepishly from her ear, she wiped a lock away, before greeting them with a beam. "Welcome! What can I get you?"

While L mused over the different sugary contents they had in stock, Light crossed his arms and looked briskly around the shop.

It wasn't anything special, almost as ordinary as any bakery could get, save for the giant donut icon that stared down at them creepily from the ceiling with a smile that could almost match the girl's.

Light turned back to see L conversing with the girl. He rolled his eyes and smirked when the detective said with big eyes, "Pika-san, was it? My name is Ryuzaki. Could you perhaps suggest the best of the best pastry items you have in stock, all with added sugary content?"

The girl, or 'Pika', as her nametag indeed read, replied, "Hold on a moment, would you?" She then whisked away to the back of the shop, when Light asked, "What are you doing?"

L turned and eyed him almost quizzically. "I'm purchasing food. Isn't that what a normal person does?"

Light groaned. "Yeah, but you don't go making friends with the employees."

L shrugged, before replying monotonously, "You do not have to worry, Light-kun. You will still remain my friend even if I do indeed make others."

Light went wide eyed. _Friend?_ Where had that come from? But before he could ask, the girl from before came skipping merrily back, now accompanied by another.

Pika introduced the other as 'Skitti', and then proceeded to discuss with L, with the added help of the new girl, which were the best sugary items to purchase.

After an irritating long fifteen minute wait, L had finally decided upon two coconut sticky rolls filled with jam. As they turned to depart, the girl known as Skitti pointed to the handcuffs and asked, "What's the story with them?"

L blinked. He hadn't really contemplated the possibility that anyone would ask about the handcuffs, though it had passed his mind once or twice. He should've trusted his intuition from before, as he replied rather awkwardly, "My friend and I here wish to be conjoined twins, but the surgery in itself is too dangerous to conduct, and without reasonable funds, we resorted to be joined at the wrist. Smart idea, no?"

But as the girls gave him looks of complete and utter disbelief and confusion, L realized he had made a terrible mistake and shuffled out the door, Light trying to cover his face from the sheer embarrassment of the situation L had just placed them in.

L smiled to himself as he plucked his prize with wavering finger, and he said, "They were nice, weren't they?"

Light thought he meant the buns for a moment, before he realized L had meant the bakery girls. He grunted in reply, and gritted his teeth. He then turned back to the detective, who was now feasting happily. "Conjoined twins? Really?" L shrugged, and continued to wolf down his bun.

The two came to a stop at the coffee shop that was considered a favourite of Light's, because of the atmosphere and the fact that they made real deal coffee at outstanding low prices. They made their way inside, and settled in the seats that they had chosen the first time the two had ever come here together.

Light remembered that over a particularly nice cup of coffee, the two had gone over Light's deduction abilities.

Settling back against the green padding seats, Light was surprised when L inclined the second roll towards him. "This is for you, Light-kun."

Light shook his head. "I don't really eat those. You can have it."

As expected from the detective, all he did was nod and proceed to devour this as he did his last, with a look of absolute glee on his face.

A waitress came by, and Light ordered two coffees, one with extra sugar for L. The waitress smiled and nodded, before walking off rather shyly.

The teen put his hands behind his head and looked up at the fans whirling around above them, when L said in between mouthfuls, "That girl finds you rather attractive, if you wanted to know. She was hesitant in her stature, yet also a tad bit flirtatious. She wanted to ask for your phone number, presumably, but she couldn't summon the courage to do so."

Light blinked and looked at the obsidian eyed man. He smirked and replied, "What would you know about flirting and the like? You probably even haven't had a girlfriend ever before in your life."

If L took this as an insult, it wasn't apparent. He finished off the last of the roll. Before responding with a tilt of his head, "It has come to my attention that I am indeed not the best when it comes to deducing flirting and its stemmed categories. But the incident a few days ago, when we were tied uncannily together, was my attempts at flirting deemed futile? Because it seems to me as if you were blushing and feeling attracted towards me in those swift moments of sexual tension."

All this was said without any change of facial expression, save for the fact that Light's eyes had widened and indeed his face had turned just a little bit more rosy.

"I was not attracted to you! Why did you even bring this up anyway?" He stammered, trying but failing to get a hold of his induced panic.

L bit his nail and slid his tongue over the surface of the skin. "Are you attracted to me now in any sort of possible way?"

Light gulped and looked around nervously, before lowering his voice to a small whisper, "Are you implying that I'm _gay_, Ryuzaki?"

L shook his head. "I never said your attraction to me right now was in any way sexual, but if you yourself are suggesting that you feel that way towards me, then yes, I would be implying that you're homosexual, with your added consent of course."

Light bit his lip and shook his head. If L came to the conclusion that Light liked _men_, then being handcuffed together was just going to get a whole lot more _awkward_.

L nodded in silent understanding, whatever he understood, before starting on an entirely new subject all together.

"Light-kun. As you know, the Kira case has come to a standstill, because of lack of evidence and movement on Kira's part."

Light sat forward, still trying to recover after that rather weird confrontation about his sexuality. He nodded, and immediately knew something was slightly off. "So, where are you going with this?"

"I must tell you now so that there are no informalities later, that you are now the prime focus in this investigation."

Light closed his eyes and sighed. "I figured you'd say something like that. But, what I don't get is how you're going to try and get evidence out of me when for one, I'm not Kira, and two, we're always together anyway."

L scratched his toes with his other foot, and replied, "I have already come up with a solution, so do not worry. Until Kira begins to go on the prowl again, you and I are going to involve ourselves in activities that are both beneficial to us in this case. Your reaction to everything is going to perhaps be beneficial to me as I could deduce from small things what Kira's personality is truly like as a normal person, on the slim chance you are indeed Kira. It will be beneficial to you, because you can watch how I react in certain situations, and you can also relax and take your mind off working for a while."

The teen was slightly afraid of what these _activities_ were supposed to be, but he remained silent and listened intently.

"These activities are going to be normal, day to day things that normal citizens would go about doing. Such activities are as follows. In a few days' time, we shall be going to the beach, and perhaps a few days after that maybe to the movies or a theme park. If you have any other suggestions, please put them forward now before I finalize this agreement."

Light chuckled to himself. So this is what the great detective had come up with? Day to day things the two would be doing in order to move the case forward? These activities weren't deemed unusual. But why on earth had L chosen to do these things that wouldn't really have any impact on the case at all?

Then it became apparent. Over the course of the last few days, L had slightly been acting out of character. First the whole cake incident, and then the fact that he had dismissed the entire Taskforce for today.

L was trying to be _normal._ After the whole accusation a few days ago about L not being normal, the detective was trying to prove to everyone (Light especially), that despite being the world's greatest detective, he too could contain normalcy in a world that was slowly losing its natural order.

How was this beneficial to Light though? Light blinked, and L's true intentions suddenly sprang to mind.

L was using this as a way to uncover Light. And in turn, Light could use this to his advantage and uncover L's secrets as well.

If L suspected Light to be Kira though, that boiled down to the question that confused Light most of all. Why was L opening himself up for inspection? Why was the detective, in a way, _submitting_ himself to the supposed mass murderer who wanted nothing more than for him to be dead?

Luckily, his thoughts didn't show on his face, so L suspected nothing. Or so he thought.

All of a sudden, the waitress came back, balancing the two steaming cups of coffee on a tray. She set it down and bowed, before rushing away with a crimson face.

Light picked up his cup, before noticing a scrap of paper had been set under it. He lowered his cup and unfurled the folded paper. It read a few numbers, and the girl's name 'Georgia', had been scrawled next to it in a hurry.

Light looked at L. "Wow. Looks like you were right."

L picked up his own cup and replied, "Yes, I must admit, my deduction is flawless almost every time, except for the time when you were proved innocent after being in confinement. That left me rather depressed."

"You don't say." Light mused in agreement and took a sip of his coffee. He almost spat the liquid all over the table and set the crockery down rather violently. "Blegh! This must be your coffee, Ryuzaki. I don't have as much sugar as that in mine."

L raised his gaze to look at Light, and replied in an almost surprised tone, "Well, that is indeed interesting."

Light stuck his tongue out in disgust, before glaring at the detective. "What? The fact that my tastebuds nearly died?"

The detective blinked and pointed to the paper. "That piece of paper here was under the coffee cup you just drank from, and if that coffee is indeed mine, then…" He finished with a triumphant smirk and delicately swiped the crockery from Light's side of the table, and took a contented sip.

All Light could do was stare…_in utter amazement_.

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><p><strong>Reviews? Please? :3<strong>


	5. Chapter 5: Sun, Sand and Shore

**Au: Chapter 5 up and ready, my friends! This chapter I like in a way, but it could use a little work. Just saying ^_^;**

**Thanks again for all your lovely reviews. They are what strive me to keep writing every day! *shiny eyes* Anyways, I finished the end of Ouran Highschool Host Club (the anime), and I didn't like it all that much. Sure, the shipping was cute, but it ended way too quickly and too cliché for me. But then again, OOCness and cliché moments always seem to intervene in that anime. *coughs* I love Tamaki and Kyouya :D**

**Disclaimer: Deathnote doesn't belong to me. Neither does the shoe brand Crocs. The story does though :D**

**OH YEAH! *suddenly remembers* How cool does this look? **

***~3.:!hEaRtBeAtS!:.3~***

**Anyways, onto the story! Enjoy and review X3**

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><p><strong>Chapter Five: Sun, Sand and Shore.<strong>

The sun shone brilliantly that Saturday morning, and the temperature was just the right humidity for the day to be enjoyed outside, making it a rather peculiar weather pattern in the month of September.

Light snuggled closer into his pillow. Luckily, and if not strangely, he had been allowed a few more hours of much regarded sleep with no acknowledgement from L whatsoever.

His lips tuned into a small and drowsy smile and he rolled over in his sleep. Unbeknownst to the outside world, in the hazy images of Light's mind Misa Amane clutched her throat and tried to force out a gurgled cry, with no successful results. Tears stung her eyes as her voice was stolen away in the wind, and with the knowledge that she could never annoy Light again with her high pitched fangirlish screams, those tears turned into big fat droplets rolling down her cheeks.

Later, Light would muse in silent regret that his dream wasn't going to become reality, but at the time he was left to ponder why a thick pain made itself through his skull and he opened his eyes to the blurry scenery.

Eventually the fog became clear as ice, and he looked around for the source of his sudden rousing.

Just as the situation had permitted, and much to Light's rising intolerance, the teen spotted that L had fallen off the side of the bed, sheets spread out around him.

A groan persisted from the man, and Light arched his neck to stare down at him. The detective was curled in a tight ball, his head sunken into his hands. Light was about to question _why_ he had woken with a splitting headache, assuming L had most likely been the cause, when the older man regained himself rather quickly, his black eyes snapping open creepily.

They stared at each other for a few seconds, when Light gritted his teeth and broke the silence by asking with a tint of sarcasm, "How's the floor?"

L stood, his hands shoved into his jean pockets, and replied with an excited glint in his irises, "Guess what, Light-kun?"

The teen sighed heavily and gathered the blanket about himself again. "I'm going to get some more sleep?" _Not likely,_ he added in silent foreboding.

L shook his head and climbed awkwardly onto the bed, crouching in his trademark position and never taking his gaze away from the younger of the two. Light tried to ignore the presence sitting beside him, as if everything were all happy dandy. After a minute or so of agitation, he was about to push the detective away, when he heard a deep whisper in his ear, "We're going to the _beach _today. Isn't that wonderful?"

Light jolted upright and dragged himself away from the older man. The panda eyed detective had a finger to his lips, a small smile forming beneath its touch. Goddamn it, he'd never get used to L being so _close _to him like that. It was just plain weird.

Trying to wrap his head around the given concept, all the teen could do was reply with a blunt, "What?"

"I do not like repeating myself, but as I cannot contain my rapidly building excitement, I shall vent again by saying, we're going to the beach today! Are you not even slightly happy?"

Light blinked, all of a sudden remembering their preposition a few days before. The _activities,_ as L had so accurately labelled them.

Failing to find proper words to form out of his mouth and mentally trying to untangle his mind, scrambled from an improper morning rising, all the boy could manage was a grunt of exasperation. However, this seemed to be all the notification L needed, and he hurriedly dragged Light out the door by the wrist, much to the teen's dissatisfaction and the large urge to whack the older man senseless.

***~3**

The air was clammy in the underground parking lot, and despite his lack of clothing, Light found it hard to breathe. He hated hot and humid days as much as he hated the detective's annoying tendencies. Wiping sweat from his forehead, but knowing very well complaining wasn't going to help him any better than standing around, he made his way toward the limousine Watari stood calmly next to.

The vehicle's glory and splendour did nothing to ease Light's foul mood, and he directed his annoyed glare to the old man, then to L who stood behind him. He decided upon trying to make conversation to make time go by faster. The sooner the day was over and done with, the better.

Choosing the most random of topic sentences as he eased over onto the leather seats, the teen asked, "Why is Watari coming with us?"

L closed the door behind them with a soft click, and reclined backwards with his knees curled up to his chest, and replied, "Neither you nor I are permitted to drive this vehicle. Only Watari is allowed."

Well that made sense. Light wasn't in the mood to be driving the two of them around in this heat, even if he had had a driver licence.

The car started up with a peaceful thrum, and Watari backed it out of the space it was parked in. They wove through the tunnel of passageways for about five minutes, before daylight greeted them and they were soon driving peacefully down the main road.

Silence persisted, before Light felt movement on the other end of his chain. Pulling himself from his useless daydreams, he turned to find L rummaging around on the floor for something. After a few seconds, L muttered something like, "Ah! Here they are!", and he surfaced holding a bright red pale and spade set, the kind you'd find a little child playing with in the sandbox.

He raised his eyebrow and tried not to laugh. Another thing he could add onto his mental list of L's weird qualities. The older man liked playing with children's toys.

…Not that he'd been keeping a mental list in the first place.

Seeing Light's perplexed gaze, L inclined the items toward his suspect and said, "Preparation is the key to any situation, Light-kun."

The teen rolled his eyes and averted himself to look at the passing scenery. Sooner than expected, the towering skyscrapers of Tokyo gave way to the inviting sky. From the small opening in L's tinted window, a sea breeze soon became apparent.

Light crossed his arms and looked around the interior. This was a first for him, to be inside a very prestigious vehicle, but somehow it wasn't as nearly exciting as he thought it'd be.

Going to the beach with L was a first for him as well. For a socially inept person, Light was surprised at how prepared L actually was for the occasion.

Littered about them was the usual things one would expect to find when travelling to the beach. Towels, two coolers filled to the brim with ice-cream and no doubt other sweets, an inner tube (what the hell?), a beach ball, an umbrella and bags filled with extra clothing.

L had even gotten their current attire right. He had supplied Light with a simple mix of dark green board shorts and a pair of plain white sandals. However, L's choice of clothing was somewhat odd in perception to the normalcy of Light's own.

The detective was donned with a simple short sleeved white t-shirt, floral patterned orange and green board shorts, and two light green shoes with numerous holes in them that were supposed to look stylish. L had regarded them as '_Crocs'._

The trip had been only a short fifteen minute ride, yet Light was slightly dreading what the day would hold.

Next to him, the detective climbed over Light's lap, much to the teen's protest, and peered out the window inquisitively. Light thought he could almost feel a childlike excitement through the older man, and he grinned in amusement.

The sudden coming of a limousine parking in the beach parking lot caused onlookers all around to gape in amazement.

Watari came around and opened the door politely, but almost immediately, and with the ferocity of a wild animal, L raced from his seat, dragging Light along raggedly behind him.

As they stepped onto the dusty sand, L lifted his arms above his head, almost as if to embrace the cheery atmosphere. "I feel…what is the emotion to describe happiness and freedom at the same time?"

Light answered the detective's question by replying with a bored tone, "Glee? Elevation? I don't know, and frankly I don't care."

All of a sudden, L turned abruptly to the teen and clamped his wrist tightly with his hand. Light didn't have time to retaliate when L said in a tone thick with a serious edge, "Light-kun must know that despite this being a rather casual and normal day at the beach, this is still the Kira case, and while I may look distant, all of my focus shall be on you."

Then, as if nothing had happened in that moment, L let go and began to skirt the sand for a place to set up their equipment.

After a five minute search, L squatted rather comically on the sand just five metres from where they had walked in. "Ah. This shall do rather nicely. Watari, if you please?"

The kindly butler smiled and proceeded to lay three towels out on the surface of the sand, when L stood and began to scan his surroundings.

Something seemed to pique the detective's interest, and he waltzed right over to where two little children were sitting and building a sandcastle.

Without a word, he sat beside them and began to help a young girl make a wall. He ran his hands over it almost artistically, titled his head to the side in a questioning glance, then proceeded to build the wall even higher.

The young girl gave him a look of innocent confusion, then broke out into a toothless smile and giggled rather adorably. L, on the other hand, seemed to be more interested in his coming together work of art than the pestering annoyance of some little child. It was like he had gone into his own little state of self awareness, blocking out every other thing predominantly in the silent world he had indulged himself into.

He even seemed oblivious to the fact that Light stood only a few feet away, giving him a look of sheer horror mixed with embarrassment.

The little girl gave L a blank stare, then proceeded to climb over his legs and use his raven hair as handholds for her sticky hands.

L, startled from the sudden contact, broke from his self induced trance and swatted at the child, but lost his balance and toppled over, the said girl clinging onto him with a cheery grin.

Startled shouts echoed through the air, and Light noticed that a rather large woman came hobbling towards them, raising a fist to the air in obvious fury.

Light came to the rescue and scooped the girl from the fallen figure of L, then presented it with his arms outstretched to the woman like some sort of offering. The woman, obviously the young girl's caretaker, began to shout something about paedophiles and perverts.

"Listen, lady. My friend here is just a little-"

"Don't' you '_listen lady'_ me, young man! How _dare_ you touch my child! You should be restrained and put into confinement somewhere!"

Light would've laughed if the situation wasn't so serious. This lady didn't even know what the hell she was talking about! He gritted his teeth and took a step forward to try and look intimidating.

"I didn't even go near your children! Now, calm down or-"

"Or you'll _what?_ First you lay your dirty hands on my children, then you _threaten _me! Rude, ignorant, selfish paedophiliac bastard!"

Nothing could prepare him for what came next. The woman seemed to reach her limit of anger and acted out violently, slapping her hand directly across Light's cheek.

He fell to the ground, a stinging sensation overtaking his senses. He rubbed his red cheek and looked up just in time to see the woman turn with a huff and walk in the opposite direction. Over her shoulder, the little girl stuck out her tongue rudely and waved after him.

Light, feeling humiliated, stood up once more and turned his back on the man who had caused the commotion in the first place.

L blinked those large eyes of his, and said, "All I can say is-"

"WHAT!"

"You shouldn't have provoked her. Women can be very complicated specimens. You should know from experience."

***~3**

After a preceding hour of Light sitting cross legged on the sand, an icepack pressed against his slightly bruised cheek (the woman had hit harder than he thought), and L busily working on the sandcastle left behind by those children, it was time the teen decided they do something other than anything so boring. However, as he went to stand, the detective linked on the other end of the handcuffs made a whipping motion with the chain, striking Light's ankle and causing the teen to buckle to the ground.

He rubbed his ankle and snarled in obvious aggravation, "What the hell was that for?"

L didn't look up. "You must stay until I finish my sandcastle."

"I don't have to stay if I don't want to, you know."

"You sound like a child, Light-kun. You must know already that you're not going anywhere unless you have my consent. We are indeed handcuffed together, after all."

Miraculously containing his anger, and very well knowing that perhaps L would roundhouse kick him if he took it out on the sandcastle, Light raised his hands in utter disbelief and sank back down on the sand. Beside him on a towel, Watari peacefully lay, obviously getting the best of the sun.

After a few seconds, L all of a sudden rounded on Light. Any other person who would've shrieked and ran away from the bug eyed look the detective gave. Either that, or punched him square in the face, which Light felt like doing at that very instant.

But Light knew better. He had to in order to even tolerate being around this irritating man. He turned, the same bored expression aligning his perfect features, and muttered, "What?"

L raised a finger slowly to his lip, and let out a long drawling sigh, before replying, "I must tell you something." _Oh great. More secrets? _"The way you reacted to that woman before, when she interrupted your threat, was acted out of anger, if I'm not mistaken. The sudden fumed threat outburst thus raises Light-kun's Kira percentage by about 1.5%, so to say."Light opened his mouth to say something, but no words tumbled out. It was in that silent marking that L suddenly stood, brushing the sand from his legs and saying monotonously, "Let us go, Light-kun. I am craving ice-cream."

As he turned to stroll down the shoreline, Light couldn't help but notice that L hadn't made any attempt to consume his already packaged assortment of sweets. As he went to ask, however, the detective pointed a finger towards a shaded stand labelled with giant rainbow bearings as '_Kya's Cones'._

L shuffled rather humorously and stood intrigued by the counter. The stand was attended to by (yet another) teenage girl, who smiled politely and asked in plain English, "What can I getcha?"

Light was a little taken aback at why the girl had used English on a Japanese beach, when L replied something inaudible in the same language.

The girl gave him a grin of obvious agreement, and rummaged around underneath the counter. She handed the man two strawberry cones, and accepted the handful of coins L had seemed to conjure from nowhere.

As they walked away, icecreams clutched tightly in their hands, Light asked out of the blue, "Where did you learn to speak English?"

It wasn't a question implying that Light hadn't known that L could speak another language. In fact, the teen was sure the man he was handcuffed was most likely multilingual.

L, without taking his large eyes from his waffle cone, ran his tongue over it almost delicately and replied, "19%, Light-kun. You aren't particularly doing too well today, are you?"

Light bit his lip and cried in protest, "How the hell does asking where you learned to speak English fluctuate my damn Kira percentage?"

A passer-by man raised an eyebrow in obvious interest, but nonetheless continued walking. L raised a finger to his lips in a silencing motion, and lowered his voice to a murmur, "You must be more careful, Light-kun. You don't know when Kira could strike." He finished this with a small amused smile, and continued to pace along leisurely as if the sudden outburst from his young accomplice had never happened.

Light sighed and rolled his eyes, before tucking into his own creamy delicacy. The strawberry composure of the icecream seemed to ripple with the teen's tastebuds, and Light grunted in surprise. He wasn't readily fond of sweet things, but no wonder L had ditched his own coolers for something more complacent.

The texture and image of the icecream were rather plain, but somehow it reminded Light of the more innocent side mirrored by L today.

He turned to the said man, only to confirm his own thoughts as he realized the detective was eating rather messily and very much like a child indeed.

A pink streak stained the older man's cheek, and L turned to see Light staring at him with those honey eyes of his. He swallowed and tilted his head sideways. "Is something bothering you? Because Light-kun cannot seem to stop staring at me for some reason."

Light's clutch on his cone became noticeably tighter, and he turned away rather sheepishly, his throat suddenly dry when he replied, "Mhn…it's just…"

"Yes?"

"You…"

"_Yes?_ If you have something to say, just say it, if you wouldn't mind."

Light suddenly stopped in his tracks, causing L to come to a halt as well, staring at him with a suspicious look in his large owl-like eyes.

Without any implications in mind, and acting out of pure sheer will, Light turned to the detective and placed a hand on his shoulder.

The detective went rigid as Light's face became focused, and bending down slightly, the teen softly (perhaps almost tenderly?) wiped the strawberry smudge from L's cheek with the ridge of his thumb.

And like as if nothing had happened, Light wiped his thumb in silent disgust against his board shorts, and proceeded to shuffle forward, a rosy tinge adorning his perfect cheeks. However, the chain pulled taut, and he looked back to find L regaining himself a few seconds too late.

Smiling to himself, but knowing very well that he had found it sort of rather hard to breathe after that sudden, if little, contact with the detective, Light mentally noted that L had revealed a small weakness.

However, this wasn't enough to confirm really _anything_ important about the detective, except for the fact that perhaps L wasn't one to have contact like that very often. Hell, even a normal person would be a little freaked if some random guy wiped icecream from their face.

When L started to walk forward, Light pushed the useless thoughts from his mind and began to follow. However, unbeknownst to the teen, who was a little in front of the detective, L kept running his fingers across his cheek.

He noticed rather regrettably that his skin still tingled from where the teen had rubbed away the mess, and that fact alone unnerved him.

L wasn't one to have physical contact with any sort of person, albeit rarely. Even since he was a child, Watari hadn't even embraced him, since he felt that contact like that was rather awkward and made him feel uncomfortable.

Yet, on the recent occasion when he and Light had been pressed together, he was left to wonder why he felt more stimulated rather than uncomfortable. And just then, L had felt a weird wave of emotions wash over him, but he was quite sure none were in any way the feeling of being violated.

L licked his melting icecream thoughtfully and focused his attention on Light. It was obvious the teen was using all of his concentration to avoid the detective's inquisitive glance. So, being a master at his job, L thought he'd flush Light from hiding.

"Why did you do that, Light-kun?"

Without even faltering, Light replied in a rather muffled tone, "Do what?"

It was also obvious that Light was trying to avoid the situation, but that piqued L's interest even more. He rubbed his fingers together along one charcoal lock of his hair, and replied without blinking, "You wiped away the icecream smudge on my face, when I am a capable grown man, and I could've managed it rather perfectly on my own."

A few seconds of acknowledged silence followed, while the scenery around them persisted in echoing the sounds of gulls screeching overhead and the lapping of the waves against the shoreline, when Light responded in a hurried tone, "It was bothering me, okay?"

L blinked, and asked, "How so?"

Light held back a berated sigh, and replied through clenched teeth, "I-I dunno…The fact that you hardly change out of those clothes at all is enough to drive me crazy! The way you spill your food everywhere is so _messy _and _disgusting,_ that I wonder how you live like this. Since you're the world's greatest detective, one would think you'd take some self pride in your damn appearance and tendencies!"

L chuckled to himself, before coming up and walking in sync next to the teen, who wasn't paying any attention to his own icecream. "Light-kun is a perfectionist."

Light stopped in his tracks and faced the detective angrily, "I am not!"

"Yes, you are."

"Prove it!"

However, as quickly as he had said that, he bit his tongue and closed his eyes in frustration, silently wishing he could take back his mistake.

L seemed to notice this, and equally seemed to revel in the fact that Light had just set up a trap for himself.

"Well, noting that you want everything to be tidy and perfect, you also must have a shower every morning and every evening. You wear nothing but the best of the best in attire, declining jeans even though they are very comfortable to wear, if I do say so myself. You are a hardened health advocate, and absolutely insist on declining every offer of sweets I have offered you, save for now. There are many more qualities that I could list, such as when I had surveillance placed about your house you ironed your own clothing instead of Sachiko-san doing so, even though it is typical for household mothers to do the work their children don't do themselves. It would also, on a certain level, be necessary to mention how you stand when urinating, as you are-"

"_Shut up! _I get your point! And don't talk about what I look like when I pee, it's actually sort of creepy!"

"But it is plain fact that through careful observation, you-"

"CONVERSATION, OVER!"

***~3**

"Ryuzaki…" Light groaned, shielding his eyes from the sun. L turned from building a steeple on his carefully constructed sandcastle and replied, "Yes, Light-kun?"

The teen sighed deeply and sat up, wiping a trickle of sweat from his forehead. "It's like, sixty degrees or something out here."

The detective, who was perched under the large umbrella and out of the sun's reach, as his pale skin would be more likely to be susceptible to sunburn than Light's, shook his head and replied. "You are incorrect with your deduction there, as I checked the thermal readings on your Ipod Touch using the weather application, and the highest the temperature would reach today is approximately twenty six point five degrees Celsius. If it where higher than say, fifty degrees, I wouldn't have suggested we come to the beach in the first place."

"Wait a second. How did you get into my Ipod? It's got a combination."

"Obviously when you were sleeping. And the numbers 1337 isn't a very smart combination, so to say."

Light let out a strangled sigh and scanned the horizon with one hand on his forehead in an attempt to block out the sun.

The water was a clear, crystal blue, the sun's reflection shining off it like a thousand topazes glittering in a meadow of serenity.

Light stood, making his final decision, and began to walk towards the water. The chain went taut after a few seconds, but the very determined teen placed a firm grip on his wrist and pulled as hard as he could.

L crouched still for a second or two, before his feet fell out from beneath him and he was dragged harshly across the scorching sand and away from his oncoming masterpiece.

When the cool substance splashed against Light's burning feet, he become almost overwhelmed and sighed in happy content, before taking another step into the inviting currents.

Yet, his craving for the water was cut short as he realized L was pulling in the opposite direction, with the added force of an elephant. Light turned angrily to see the detective on his feet now, hurriedly trying to scramble away from the ocean's embrace.

Knowing very well that L would not move towards Light under any circumstance at all, the teen gave into his fury and stormed toward the older man, hands shaking in aggravation.

As he reached out to wrap an arm around the detective's waist, his fingers found the soft fabric of his shirt instead and he closed them in a balled fist. With a grunt he pulled, yet L pulled the other way as he tried to escape back to the sand hills.

In the confusion, L tilted his body and his shirt came sailing over his head, until it hung limp like deadweight in Light's grip. Without any other motives except for the silent promise he would get the man in the water no matter what, Light bounded forward and scooped L bridal style up in his arms.

L lurched and let out a childish whimper as Light held an iron grip around his pale and bare midriff.

The teen raced towards the ocean, the detective bumping up and down in his arms.

L clawed at the air mercilessly, trying to leap over Light's shoulder as he frenziedly tried to escape his captor. However, they were already waist deep in the water and slowing down when L cried rather urgently, "Put me down this instant, Light-kun!"

This made Light's resolve stronger as he realized that this was a big weakness that the detective was showing, and he could shove it in his face later.

They reached chest deep and the water began to soak the bottom of L's board shorts. He let out a gurgled cry and wrapped his arms around Light's neck rather tightly.

The teen smiled evilly, and didn't fail to notice the complete terror flashing across the detective's ebony irises, before slamming the surface of the water at full force and kicking under, dragging L under with him.

L swallowed a mouthful of the salty water and is made his open eyes sting horribly. Delicate bubbles rose around their entangled forms, and on stupid instinct he let go of Light. The detective, in his suffocating panic, seemed to make sense that he had let go of his only life support, and he swept his floating arms around him in a frantic search for the teen. Terror and shock overwhelmed his every sense, and he let go of what little breath he had been holding. His eyes were slowly beginning to close, and the last thing he saw was a sunlight streaked hand reach out into the water.

Impulse wanted him to take it, but that was when everything went dark.

Light surfaced, flipping his wet hair from his forehead and laughing hysterically toward the sky. He had actually managed to get the detective in the water, despite the older man being so terrified.

_Oh god, yes! How he could shove it in that stupid detective's face later!_

The laughter almost ripping his sides and tears of utter joy splitting his vision, he called out in a shaky breath, "Ha, Ryuzaki! Did you see the look on your face! It looked so hilarious I almost-"

But when no monotonous interruption occurred from a very pissed off detective, and the chain attached to his wrist was limply floating in the water, the outcome of the situation dawned on the teen, and his stomach plummeted horribly.

He pulled at the chain, and the detective's still form turned over in the water, his obsidian eyes fluttering shut.

"Oh _shit_! _Fuck! _**Ryuzaki!**" Light cried out in rising distress, clutching his pounding head in his shaking hands. Reason seemed to embrace him with clammy hands, and he reached beneath the surface, scooping the fragile form of the unconscious man in his droplet stained arms.

He turned and raced back toward the shore as fast as his legs could carry him through the sea of now murky blue. When the water reached his ankles, he bounded across the sand, knocking over a little kid in his hurried wake.

His breathing was becoming dry and his lungs burned inside, yet despite his pains sobs threatened to escape his throat. He tripped over his own feet and the two went sprawling into the sand.

Light regained his exhausted composure and crawled weakly over to L, his brain desperately trying to concoct a solution.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw people begin to crowd around them, including Watari, and he could feel shame and utter depression burn across his face.

L's pale features were already becoming dimmer, and his lips contrasted a delicate edge of icy blue. Light gritted his teeth and pressured his hands down on the detective's chest. He would not let L _die!_ Even if he hated every inch of the stupid panda eyed man, the world famous L would not die by the hands of his biggest suspect!

Light pushed up and down, all the while trying to get a hold of his mentality. _This wasn't working! _He had to do something else…

Light wasn't an expert in first aid, but even he knew the technique that would save this man's slowly dwindling life. He pinched L's nose with his thumb and forefinger, swallowed the nervous tension in his chest, and bent forward.

Pressing his mouth against L's rather awkwardly and jarringly, he let loose a long and shaky breath in an attempt for the mouth-to-mouth resuscitation process.

Pushing down on his chest a couple more times, and proceeding to bend over for another mouth to mouth session, the last thing he expected was to be dragged harshly from his patient.

He hit the sand with a painful thud, and looked wildly around. In his place crouched the woman who had slapped him a couple of hours before, performing the same procedure that Light had tried to do before.

After a few seconds of tense silence, Light looked back at L's body with a hopeful grimace. When the detective made no inclination of moving, Light fell to his knees beside his partner.

The crowd began to murmur with pity and sad acknowledgement, and nearby a young girl burst out into big fat tears.

_L was dead_…And it was all his fault! He had killed the detective, and the man had left this world not knowing that Light actually respected and liked him, even to go as far and say that they had indeed been…

_Friends._

Light bit his lip as unwanted tears welled up in his eyes. Guilt poured everywhere through his body. He hadn't _meant_ to _kill _him…He only wanted to go in the water, and he had to drag L in to get what he wanted.

_Selfish, arrogant, bastard…_

Suddenly, a cough and a gasp reverberated in the air, and the crowd let out the breath they had been holding together. L's obsidian eyes slowly opened, and he stared directly at the woman in a state of confusion.

Finally, he opened his shaking lips and whispered, "Light…kun?"

_Goddamnit. What a mood killer…_

The woman was taken aback, and as she went to retaliate, Light rushed frantically over to L and took his hand reassuringly in his own.

"Moron! I'm right here!"

L blinked and went to sit up, but sunk back down with a strangled groan. Light smiled and wiped away the tears threatening to overflow down his cheeks.

Pride still counted, even when his adversary's line to life had nearly been tethered.

***~3**

After the commotion had died down, the pair had decided it would be best to go back to the Taskforce building. For someone who had been on the brink of death, L had actually taken back to being his old self rather quickly. He leaned back against the leather seats of the limousine interior, two big towels wrapped around his shaking body.

Back at the beach, even though Watari had suggested that it was of the upmost importance that L had at least a quick checkup before they departed, the detective insisted that he was if, if only a little light headed.

L tilted his head to turn and look at Light, who was trailing his gaze out the window and the passing scenery. To break the silence, L stated rather crudely, "20.5% Light-kun."

Light pouted in annoyance and retaliated with a voice thick full of ice, "I wasn't trying to kill you! I tried to save your poor ass back there!"

L blinked, but nonetheless replied in a smooth monotonous voice, "You keep implying that, however you were the one who dragged me beneath the waves and nearly made me drown. When I regained into a conscious stare, it was the nice lady who I saw hovering over me who I'm quite sure saved my life."

Light rolled his eyes. He knew that there was no use convincing the stupid man of anything.

After a moment of another inadequate silence striking the air, L concluded, "However, you were crying."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I observed, in my semi conscious state, that you were expressing sadness in the form of tears for me. Does this mean that perhaps Light-kun cares for me?"

Light couldn't make a response as his voice was lost in the sudden confusion. _Did he care about L?_

It was true that before the detective had come along, his life could easily be defined by the word _boring._ Being at the top of his year, it was hard to find anyone to stable an intelligent conversation with. Sure, he was flocked all round by people everywhere, but that was because he was popular.

He never had anyone to actually call a _friend_ before.

Hell, even Ryuzaki was better company than his own girlfriend Misa Amane. But maybe that was because nobody wanted to be in the company of the bothersome superstar…

Light turned to the detective, and saw him looking directly at him with very large eyes. Suddenly, his stomach twisted in a rather pleasant and frightening manner, and his heartbeat increased rapidly.

Finding that staring into those black gems only increased that sudden weird feeling, Light turned abruptly away.

Shaking his head slightly, the teen mumbled in a voice tilting on the edge of nervous tension, "Mmmm…I wasn't crying."

"Yes you were. Or, you were at least about to."

"Oh yeah? Yhen why did you whisper my name when you regained consciousness, huh?"

L blinked. "I did it in regards to the questioning of the woman I woke up to see, because in my half dazed state, I found it rather odd that Light-kun was adorning breasts the size of ripe watermelons. However, I don't see how that pertains to my original-"

"Ha! You _were_ confused! So you didn't see me crying!"

"I was only implying the scenario of seeing what I thought at the time briefly was a female Light Yagami. I'm still standing on the claims that I indeed saw you leak moisture from your eyes in the form of expression emotions of sadness and perhaps depression. Which leads back to my main question-"

"Bvvt." Light made a cutting silencing motion in the air with his hand

"But-"

"Conversation, over!"

* * *

><p><strong>OMG SUCH A LOOOOOONNNNGGGGG CHAPTER! :D I like it :3<strong>

**Anyways, review as always, but NO FLAMES! Constructive Criticism is appreciated as well :D**

**(My back hurts for sitting in my chair for so long…) -_-;**


	6. Chapter 6: Moonlight Slumber

**AN: I know, I'm late. Shut up please….But now I actually got up off my ass and typed it up! It's a short chapter, but I wrote a BB X L oneshot also to make up for it :3**

**I dedicate this chapter to two reviewers who have stuck with me throughout the entire story so far. And they are the lovely Viyola and wingfire24! *hands them virtual cookies and gives virtual hugs) :3**

**Okay, enough of my freaking ranting, and on with the story!**

* * *

><p><strong> Chapter Six, Moonlight Slumber<strong>

_The moon bloomed shadows across the pale sidewalk as soft footsteps sharply pierced the night air. Golden hair flew in a slight updraft, and sapphire gems grew cold in the embrace of twilight._

_The girl of the dark opened blood stained lips, and from her throat a low humming began to shine through. The humming climbed higher to reach clear notes, until those notes eventually became words, and from those words a sad melody was born._

"_Here I sing, here I dance. Why won't you take my hand?_

_Together we may be, yet the darkness is consuming me._

_I clutch my knife and slash at you, so the world can be born anew._

_Your kiss is my poison, your soul I will consume. Yet you never saw it coming, I presume?"_

_The girl gripped a hand around the slim surface of a streetlight pole, and thrust her body around in a giddy swing. Her features became bright and rosy but then descended into the dark fog once more. Even if the shadows of the night caressed her, the stale light of the streetlight alighted her face every time she was caught in its embrace._

_However, her giddy and almost haunting jaunt came to an abrupt halt, and she stood silently halfway between the two worlds. Parting her lips only slightly, she uttered the last hymns of the forbidden song._

"_So, whatever you do, God is coming for you._

_Stuck on raven wingbeats of yore, the heart he clutches was once yours._

_Stolen away in the tendrils of time, why don't you wish to be mine?_

_For you are my Shadow, and I am your Light._

_But we are stolen away in the love of my lies."_

_*~3_

The room was silent, save for the anime alarm clock ticking away peacefully on the wooden bedside table. The room was dark too, for once.

No ominous and stale glow pulsed throughout the room from the dazzling screen of the laptop. In fact, the laptop was set aside, its lid clicked firmly shut.

If the laptop was shut, that meant that L wasn't working, which also happily meant that Light should've been able to doze off to sleep rather quickly.

_Then why was the teen lying wide awake?_

Light was turned on his side away from the hunched over detective, forcefully closing his eyes and trying to let sleep wash over him. Yet, his body and brain wouldn't react in the way he wanted, and he lay there like a limp ragdoll in silent frustration.

Every few minutes or so, the sheets ruffled and the bed titled in favour to where L was inclining his body, but the detective never made any reach for the laptop.

And for some reason, this annoyed Light way too much for a small irritation. In fact, he was so aggravated that he felt an uncanny urge to whack the older man out cold.

But still the teen lay, pretending to be asleep and steadily making sure his breathing patterns looked natural.

However, the awkward silence persisted on for a couple of minutes, until Light sighed in defeat and sat up suddenly. The chain jingled from the sudden movement, and that caused L to turn his dark gaze towards him.

The curtains were drawn back a little, and a sliver of milky moonlight shone through, radiating the detective's rather daunting features. He looked like something out of a horror movie, with his hands gnarled over his knees like some sort of overrated Golem (Light had mentally referred to the strange creature from the Lord of the Rings movies), and his posture making him look like he was plotting the end of the world.

Yet, the innocence that portrayed through the man was almost overwhelming. Despite his monstrous and gangly appearance, Light could almost see a young child smiling through.

_A child lost in the dark._

And for some unaccounted reason, Light found the rare and mysterious sight before him rather…

_Beautiful._

L's thumb drew its way across his teeth in a quick motion, and the detective blinked his owlish eyes. "Whatever is the matter, Light-kun?" He asked in that monotonous voice of his, drawing icicles across Light's skin.

Light shivered a little, much to his own displeasure, before reverting back to his annoyed self and he replied, "Why aren't you working?"

"Does Light-kun wish for me to work?"

"No. I never said that. But it's just a bit weird seeing it since you're always hacking away on that laptop of yours."

L tilted his head, but never took his gaze from Light's. "It is rather peculiar that you would note this. I in fact stopped working so you could rest without my annoying tendencies getting in the way."

Light was taken aback. _Since when did L take Light's wellbeing into consideration whatsoever?_ The teen found himself smiling however, oddly enough, and he replied with amusement, "Thanks for that, but while you're at it, you should do yourself a favour and get some well-earned rest as well. You hardly ever sleep as it is."

"That is because I am an insomniac, as I have told you before. I cannot sleep, but I've trained my body to live on the enormous amounts of sugar I consume daily."

The teen raised an eyebrow. "Really? Everyone needs to sleep, Ryuzaki, even if they do consume all the sugar in the world. You of all people should know that."

L's lips turned upwards into a meticulous smile, causing him to look sharply more sinister. "Well, it looks like you caught me out. As always, your deduction skills are rather fabulous. I do indeed sneak a little bit of sleep here and there, but that's for me to know and for you to find out."

Light scratched his head and stretched his aching arms upwards. "Well, what do you enjoy doing through the endless hours of the night if you aren't sleeping or working?"

L slowly, ever so slowly, blinked those obsidian gems and replied on a slightly lower tone than before, "I like to think."

A tense atmosphere all of a sudden filled the room, and whether it was Light's imagination or not, he swore he could feel his heart skip a rapid beat. And then he dared to whisper the words, "About what?"

L became rigid like stone, marking his gargoyle-like stature, and he widened his eyes slightly.

"21% Light-kun."

The tense atmosphere shattered like glass as Light's fury rose in a matter of seconds. But then he felt a new feeling creep in and swirl around his anger, shrouding it in a deep depressing blue mist.

Why did his heart ache all of a sudden? Why did a deep sorrow suddenly saturate his soul?

_Why did he feel so hurt?_

These feelings conjured into tears welling in his honey irises, and the teen turned away, thankful for the darkness. _Damn it!_ He didn't _cry!_ Least of all in front of goddamn _L_!

However, L didn't fail to noticer the water droplets reflect in the moonlight, and he arched forward. Light felt a warm reassuring hand on his shoulder, and he turned in surprise. The detective leaned forward even more, and wiped away the tears starting to form with trembling fingers.

Light's breath caught in his throat, and he was caught in the moment pondering why he liked L's fingers caressing his cheek softly, when common sense kicked in and he whacked L's hand away harshly.

L retreated rather quickly, his face remaining as expressionless as ever. Upon seeing this, it irked Light's rebuttal even more. L wasn't being affectionate. He merely wiped away the tears as a form of investigating into the aspect of human emotions.

_It's not like he cared._

And it's not like Light _wanted_ the older man to care. That was just absurd.

Light nonetheless decided to confirm his theory. "Why did you do that?" He asked in a venomous tone.

L reverted back to his beforehand position, biting his thumbnail thoughtfully. "It was bothering me."

"Perfectionist."

"I deny your assumptions. I am nowhere near what you define as being a _perfectionist._ I am quite laterally the opposite. Shall I go into Light's own details once again and compare them with mine?"

"No thanks. And don't do that again. It was creepy."

"Of course. But that only exerts the percentage rate higher on my last statement I made a few days ago about your previously shed tears. So, assuming that-"

"Just shut up, will you? I need to sleep."

*~3

Soon enough, Light had finally drifted into a deep slumber, his breath rising and falling almost melodically. L watched him intensely, until the teen turned in his sleep abruptly and it snapped the detective from his almost lulled state.

He placed the bridge of his thumb on the edge of his teeth and pressed down slightly harder than intended. A dull throbbing coursed through his now grazed appendage and he stuck it fully in his mouth, hoping to suck the pain away.

However, the pain did not direct his attention away from the new thoughts arising in his head. A new theory had begun to propagate inside the man's brain, something so out of the range of normalcy yet something so brilliant at the same time.

L turned his gaze back to the slumbering teen and began to put his plan into action. Somehow, if he waited long enough, and if his patience didn't wear thin, then perhaps he could achieve the results he had hoped for.

What L hoped to achieve was depicted as rather abnormal, but circumstances deemed it absolutely necessary.

He would watch Light in his sleep, eyeing him closely so he could pick up on any small hints as to whether the teen was in fact Kira. If the boy didn't miraculously confess in his vulnerable state, then L was sure he could pick up on any other coherent thoughts he could use to his own advantage.

Gathering his muses, the detective fumbled around a little, drawing a patterned quilt around his shoulders and getting comfortable. He popped a sugar cube in his mouth, feeling it dissolve sweetly, and he began to observe.

For the first half hour, nothing really changed, except for the fact that Light had shifted quite a few times, but nothing out of the usual aspects of the teen's sleeping patterns.

L scratched his foot with the toes of the other. He was beginning to grow agitated, but was doing quite a keen job not to let it show.

Time was going to run out sooner or later, either for him or for the Taskforce, and he was determined to falter that fate for as long as he could. Still, he couldn't wrap his head around something.

Light Yagami was Kira. Light Yagami _had_ to be Kira. There was just no other explanation.

L had never been wrong in his deductions before, but why was all the evidence being proved against his definite theory? Why was Light putting on an act of innocence? Why had the detective yet to capture Kira?

L also knew that no matter how high he ranged the percentage of Light being Kira, how frustrated he made the teen, and how amused it made him to see the you8nger explode in fury, it all meant nothing without sufficient hard evidence.

Speaking of hard evidence, the technique he was using now was hardly of any use either for discovering if the dozing teen was in fact the most dangerous mass murderer in the world.

Due to observing the teen for the last few nights, L had readily trained himself to learn Light's slumbering patterns off by heart, down to each and every twitch and turn to tell the older man what his accomplice might in fact be dreaming about.

Rarely did Light make any implication of sleeptalking, and the only time L had noticed anything obviously unusual was when the said boy seemed to have a rather disturbing dream where he jerked around under the blankets and slightly moaned with a pleasured yet strained look on his face. The dream contents became apparent afterwards when Light woke a few moments later and demanded that he all of a sudden had to go to the bathroom urgently.

But that was a common thing to happen among young adolescent males, and wasn't going to benefit to the Kira case in any way. _Unless L knew who Light had been dreaming about._

The detective slightly shuddered at the thought and nibbled on the end of a sugary biscuit thoughtfully.

On the very small chance that the teen did in fact confess he _was_ Kira, it would most likely be slurred and particularly inaudible for the security cameras installed in their room to pick up.

And on the chance that Light was innocent, the confession could be a conjuring of mixed thoughts and feelings depicted from a dream where he felt pressured to a point of falsely confessing.

If Light was pressured into falsely confessing in the waking world, then it would be just as unfair to punish him as it would be that he convicted the teen on the said evidence of confession in his slumber.

So then why did L continue to watch the teen as he slept day in and day out?

In all honesty, L wasn't quite sure of it himself, but somehow he felt at peace whenever he just sat and observed Light sleeping deeply and at peace from the nightmares of the real world.

The way the boy curled into himself was rather a strange portrayal of innocence that would never show in the day under that mask of security and perfection. But Light Yagami, in this vulnerable state, was so perfect it was almost…

_Beautiful._

The same strange nausea that L had feared would come once again pooled forebodingly into his stomach, and the detective clutched at his waist with shaking hands.

It was only a few weeks ago that this strange new emotion had begun to cloud the detective's senses, and it had been recurring frequently that L had begun to wonder if he was beginning to fall ill.

However, he noted that he only felt this way when he was in close proximity with Light. Ever since the time when they had been pressed together and bound by the handcuffs chain did this feeling begin to L's heart.

He found his thoughts drifting to the teen regularly, and he had to mentally snap himself out of the pathetic charade. In higher frequency it was getting, until L realized that he relished in the fact that whenever he and Light touched, his heart seemed to soar.

And the older man _knew_, and no matter how hard he tried to deny it, that he was _attracted_ to Light Yagami.

He was falling head over heels in this new and exciting emotion.

_And it was slowly destroying him._

L sighed and reached for another biscuit, but faltered midway. Still the clock ticked on through the penetrating silence, and nothing else was heard save for Light's faint breathing.

The thought of sitting there for another six hours with nothing to do except watch Light slumber wasn't all that appealing to him anymore, and the detective scratched his head in annoyance. If only Light didn't need as much sleep as he did, then L could continue working for a few more hours tops.

Then, as unexpected as anything could be, a yawn wracked through L's body, and he realized how drowsy he himself was.

Taking Light's advice into consideration, the detective carefully and as noiselessly as he could, placed the tray of sweets and laptop on the bedside table. He then slid himself carefully, as to not wake Light, under the patterned quilt and laid his head back down on the comfortable pillow.

Knowing perfectly well that he would probably reawaken within another two hours within another two hours, and that his slumber was most likely going to be dreamless, he turned over on his side, only to come nose to nose with Light.

L could practically feel his cheeks turning a light crimson, and he mentally scolded himself. He was not permitted to engage in any sort of romantic relationship with the teen, even if (_most likely not_) that Light somehow felt the same way…

_Wait! What in heaven's name was he even thinking?_

He could not, and would not _ever_ permit himself to fall in love with the teenager. It was like falling for the _enemy._

Yet without even thinking, L reached out a hand and took a strand of hair between shaking fingers, and brushed it out of the way of Light's dazzling features.

In a state of half awareness as sleep began to take over, L wrapped his arms around Light's waist and drew the slumbering teen close, pressing his forehead into the younger's chest.

A tired grunt emanated from Light, and he half opened a sparkling amber eye. "What're you doing Ryuzaki…?" Light muttered in a slurred tone. L's eyes began to droop, and he replied in a soft whisper, "Light-kun doesn't mind if I hug him…? It helps me to sleep better…"

In a valid response of strange acceptance of L's equally strange behaviour, Light embraced the older man with one hand resting in the detective's raven spikes.

"Thank you, Light-kun…"

"Mhm. Shut up and go to sleep, idiot."

_*~3_

The sunlight filtered through the window and danced across the bedsheets. Light opened one eye to the bleary scenery as his alarm drowned out any recognizable thoughts in his overwhelmed skull.

As he made a reach for the snooze button, the teen felt a tightening around his waist and he looked down in confusion. A groan emanated from beneath the blanket and all sorts of panicked thoughts began to process through his now alarmed system.

He threw the blanket off quickly to find L curled up rather close beside him, his spindly arms embracing the teen's stomach. All Light could do was stare in shock as the detective lazily opened one obsidian gem and rubbed his eyes to clear his vision.

As the obviously stunned teen came to view, a small smile found its way to L's lips and he murmured, "Good morning, Light-kun."

Light's first reaction was to retreat across the room as he wondered why the _hell_ L had been sleeping with his arms around Light's waist, or why L was sleeping in the first place for that matter.

But for some reason, he just sat there, opened mouth and staring at the older man lying next to him. Finally, common sense kicked in, and realizing how stupid he must've looked, he fixed his mouth shut and gently unwound L's arms from around him.

At first, the detective protested like a child, and buried his head deeper (if he possibly could) into Light's stomach, causing the teen to go a bright red, before his own common sense became apparent and he awkwardly moved away from his young accomplice.

Nothing was said between the two for the remainder of the morning, even when the rest of the Taskforce had arrived for work.

Unknown to the two, however, Matsuda was the only one who seemed to notice the awkward tension between the two. And being Matsuda, the young Taskforce member tried to resolve the problem he knew nothing about.

So, when he slipped around the corner and out of their sights, no one seemed to notice. No one except for Aizawa that was.

As Matsuda scurried quickly back, two steaming coffee mugs in hand, he was stopped abruptly by his work mate. Before he could say anything to save himself, Aizawa pressed with a raised eyebrow, "What are you doing, Matsuda?"

Matsuda gulped and looked sheepishly away, before eyeing Matsuda with sparkling brown eyes and replying in a lowered tone, "I-I was just…"

"Spit it out already. I got a whole pile of papers waiting for me."

Of course, Matsuda knew that such a stack of files didn't exist because work had been noticeably slow and Aizawa only came to check on him because he had nothing better to do. He took a breath, mustered what little courage he had and replied, "Well, Ryuzaki and Light…"

"Yeah?"

"They don't look too happy, so I thought maybe bringing some coffee might help."

Aizawa sighed and rubbed a hand against his forehead. "Matsuda?" He grunted through gritted teeth. "If you maybe looked before jumping and acting, they _already_ have coffee."

And sure enough, peering over Aizawa's shoulder, Matsuda could see Light sipping quietly from his own coffee mug.

"_Oh._" He muttered, looking defeated.

"Idiot. I'll take one of those coffee's though, and you can get back to working."

"Wha? But-"

"_Matsuda_."

"Okay…"

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><p><strong>R and R please! NO FLAMES! And constructive criticism is good as well :3<strong>

**First person to review who isn't Wingfire and Viyola, I will dedicate the next chapter to :P**

**Hope you enjoyed :D**


	7. Chapter 7: Heart Beats

**AN: Sorry that it's like, a month (or two) overdue guys. But in all reality, school has being a freaking pain. And don't worry, the stuff in this chapter has been well worth the wait. I really hope you guys like it ^_^;**

**Oh yeah, remember when I was talking about the anime convention that I was going to? Well…..I WENT! I AM NO LONGER AN OTAKU!**

**I officially own an L x Light Doujinshi, over half a dozen L/Deathnote things, my very own Deathnote and I tasted Ramonade! SOOOOO MUCH FUN! XD**

**Disclaimer: Deathnote doesn't belong to me, but I got one! XD**

**Okay, enjoy this chapter, because I know you will! XD**

**Oh yeah! Before I forget! This chapter is dedicated to AiKo-Chan15! Lucky Lucky you! XD**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Seven, Heart Beats<strong>

Saturday morning wore on endlessly, and when Light turned his gaze from the book he was reading to the analog clock mounted high up on the wall the time only read 9:30am.

He grunted in annoyance and tried to refocus his attention back to the novel L had so conveniently picked out for him (It was dubbed 'Twilight', and was a rather curious love story between an over dependant teenage girl and a one hundred year old vampire with a rather depressing backstory).

However, the words blurred in front of him and he snapped the book shut, leaning back against the leather couch with a sigh. Next to him, hunched over and curiously arranging numerous sweets and biscuits on a shining silver tray, was L, a finger to his lips in silent thought.

Light frowned and turned his gaze away from the detective, fully aware that those same damn emotions kept invading his stomach whenever he looked at the older man. Putting off the feelings as disgust for the detective he was chained to, Light yawned and remarked bluntly, "It's Saturday."

Without taking his gaze from his delectable sweets, L replied monotonously, "Yes."

A preferred silence was expected to follow, when all of a sudden Light said the most unexpected thing.

"Wanna go do something?"

L turned slowly to the teen, his defences immediately reacting and constructing a wired gate around his steady mind. This was a sudden change to Light's attitude. Usually, the teen complained about the activities they had done so far, and L had planned a whole lot more to come.

This sudden request could either strike gold for the Kira Case, or take a turn for the worse. L obviously preferred the former.

If Light was indeed hiding as Kira, he could be planning something drastic to whatever subject came to mind. It could in fact be L's demise. Or it could be his well-earned victory, depending on the situation.

The detective's brain concocted all of this within a 3 second interval, until he regained himself and replied, "Well, what do you suggest?"

Light blinked in surprise. L hadn't planned anything to do on a _Saturday_? The entire Taskforce were at home for the day, and the detective had expected them to be sitting inside all day? Not only that, but it was rather odd deeming that L was in charge of this new turn in the investigation. Maybe the detective had just reached a dead end in the course of his thought train?

No, that couldn't be it. L was never one to be stumped over simple matters such as this.

…

_Or had he really just planned to spend the entire day inside?_

"I have no idea. I would've thought that maybe you had come up with something."

This caused the older man to scratch his head, remaining silent for a moment, before asking, "Where do Light-kun and his friends normally go to spend free time on a Saturday?"

_God, L really was socially retarded._

Light smirked. "Well, I'd normally go to the movies or something, or at least I used to. However, being handcuffed to the world's greatest detective isn't all rainbows and butterflies, you know."

And, just as expected, L said, "Well, it wouldn't be a problem if Light-kun and I attended the viewing of a movie, would it?"

Light stood and stretched his arms high above his head, stifling a chuckle. "Why don't we go and see the new Harry Potter movie? I heard it came out like about a week ago or something."

L nodded and placed the tray down on the coffee table, almost as if meaning to get back to it later, and then pocketed some of the packaged sweets just in case he got hungry.

They made their way to the elevator, and Light pushed the bottom for the underground floors, while L texted Watari to meet them in the carpark as soon as possible.

The elevator doors buzzed open and the two made their way to the security checks. They passed through the screen door that was unlocked via finger, eye and voice scans, and towards the neatly parked limousine.

The cardrive was leisurely, even if they were (yet again) in a very classy vehicle. They turned a sharp right, and were driving at a good pace down a smooth road, when L asked out of the blue, "What is a movie theatre like, Light-kun?"

Light, who had been staring out the window, turned to the detective and raised an eyebrow. "It's a movie theatre. You know, rows of seats, a giant screen. The usual."

L nodded and continued to divulge in the handful of sweets he was holding, when Light returned back to conversation by asking, "What's your favourite movie?"

This simple question unnerved L, and he stopped midway of popping a lemon sour in his mouth. It was rather odd, once again, that L would ask such a…_normal_ question. Normally the only thing that passed between them was short snide remarks and briefings of the Kira Case.

First off today, Light had asked if they wanted to go somewhere for the day, and now…_this._

What did the teen hope to achieve by treating their current relationship with such normalcy? It would almost like how one would address…

_A friend._

No, that couldn't be it. Light was obviously trying to uncover things about L, even if they were so trivially disregarded as anything that wasn't as important as finding out L's real name.

If Light were to ask a question straight out that would put him under immediate suspicion that he was trying to exploit the detective, knowing the teen, he would try and do it as sneakily as possible without arousing prominent suspicion.

However, the percentage rate within L's head instinctively rose by about 0.2%, but that was more than enough to be suspicious.

As small as it was, any piece of evidence counted.

After a moment, L continued devouring his sweets, and replied with his mouth remotely stuffed, "I'm not quite sure, but if I had to choose, I rather did enjoy Anne of Green Gables and Flicka."

This response caused Light to stifle a chuckle, and L's eyes narrowed. "Whatever is so funny as to make Light-kun giggle?"

Light gritted his teeth and grinned. "Well, unlike you, I like movies that are actually worth watching."

"Such as?"

Light thought for a moment. "Iron Man, I am Legend. Things like that."

L frowned. "I assure you, that any decent human with at least half a brain would pick my choice of movies over yours."

"Yeah, those people being teenage girls and housewives."

"Is Light-kun being sexist now? Because that is highly uncalled for. In regards to my own choices, the emotional settings and storylines behind them make your choices, for lack of better words, _bite the dust_, I'm afraid. There is hardly any entertainment in watching a rather ugly looking man parade around in a suit of iron blowing things up, or watching the last human survivor on earth try and survive a massive rampage of what look like many Misa Amanes with their hair all torn off."

Light blinked and a small amused smirk alit his features.

"Ryuzaki." He began, "You've actually never seen those movies before, have you?"

L blinked. How could Light get an assumption of whether L had actually watched the movies or not? Was he really that skilled at deducing the detective so easily?

"Well, actually…no. But in turn with your own criticizing, you yourself have never seen the movies I quoted either, have you?"

"…No."

And for some strange reason, Light began to do something so remarkably out of character it made L's stomach do flips and spins.

The teen's mouth tilted upwards slightly, and he had a pained look on his face, almost like he was trying to suppress something deep inside.

L braced himself for any sort of physical attack his young accomplice was planning, when all of a sudden Light leaned back against the seat and…

_Laughed._

It was a clear sound, almost like a bell, without any inclination of malice hidden within it at all. It's high clear note rang throughout the car, and L could fill his heart flutter and soar.

_Damn it._ Light was getting too good at this. This sick game he was playing, manipulating the detective to make him feel this way. That's what had to be going on. There couldn't be anything else to compare this new experience to.

Suddenly, after a bout of split second thinking, L began to counter with a decisively formulated plan. A smile alighted his own lips, and he began to chuckle. Light shut away his own laughter to look curiously at the detective, and then their eyes met.

L's eyes were as black and as deep as usual, but he swore he could see a spark of some unknown emotion flash across them.

And for some unknown reason, Light's pounding heart skipped a beat, and found he desperately wanted to touch L's skin. Ignoring all flaring thoughts, he placed a hand on L's soft and pale cheek.

L became silent at once, and as his body went rigid, Light leaned in even closer. But before they ever crossed that boundary, Light heard a ruptured snort and a burst of unprecedented laughter and L turned his head away from Light's and began to giggle childishly into his knees.

In turn, the teen's sealed away laughter came racing back, and he found himself clutching at his sides and trying very hard not to fall off his seat and onto the floor.

After a few moments of hoarse chuckling, the noise died down and the two began to busily regain themselves. As soon as it seemed like it was before, the care took a left turn and Light peered out the tinted window, ignoring whatever urges had come to mind just before.

They were pulling slowly up to a large fancy building, Watari trying very hard to steer the limo through a large crowd of noisy tourists.

It took them a full fifteen minutes to eventually settle in a cramped spot beside a red Volvo and a black four wheeled drive.

As soon as the engine silenced its humming, L bolted excitedly from the car, pulling Light hurriedly along behind him. However, in his hurried frenzy to get inside and secure themselves good seats, L forgot to judge the distance of how far the two cars were apart, and slammed the shiny door full course into the Volvo's side with a harsh _bump_, creating a large and rather noticeable dent.

Light put two fingers against the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes in an attempt to hold back his rising anger. They hadn't even been here for at least a minute and already L had caused large trouble to occur.

L was silent, staring at the mishap he had uncannily caused, before shrugging slightly and, seemingly putting the car's damage and repair expenses to the back of his mind, turned and bolted towards the cinema's revolving doors.

Light followed along sheepishly, feeling rather sort for Watari as the old man was left behind to deal with one pissed off car owner.

***~3.:!hEaRtBeAtS!:.3~***

"What do you mean there are no tickets left?"

"I'm sorry sir, but the last of the tickets was sold to those two young girls over there."

Light turned, fuming, and followed his gaze to where the attendant behind the counter was pointing. A young girl, around the age of 14, stood patiently in line with another who looked about the same age.

Light's annoyance only rose as he recognised the person who had swiped up the last of the tickets. He stormed over and placed a hand roughly on her shoulder, spinning her around to face him.

L blinked. Somehow, this girl seemed strangely familiar…

"Sayu!" What are you doing here? I thought mom told you that you weren't allowed to see this until you were seventeen!"

Ah yes. Sayu Yagami. 2nd year student at Eishu Juniour High School. Aka, Light's younger sister. L vaguely remembered her face from the time when he had surveillance placed about the Yagami household for investigation purposes.

Sayu, who had a surprised look on her face, inquired, "L-Light? What're you doing _here?_ I thought you were away on that mathematics camp that Dad mentioned…"

Light stared, dumbfounded, at her. _Mathematics camp?_ What on _earth…?_

However, L came to the rescue and broke the awkward silence by saying, "It is indeed true what you are saying, regarding the information about Light-kun being away at mathematics camp. However, for now we are allowed to spend the day freely and do what we wish. Light-kun and I decided it would be appropriate to spend the said day at the movies."

This caused Sayu to blink a couple of times, before replying, " Yeah, sure. But, _who are you?_"

L smiled meekly. "My name is Ryuzaki. You must be Sayu Yagami, I presume?"

Sayu nodded and shook L's outstretched hand. Then the young teen girl looked between the two males and seemed to calculate something in that brain of hers. "Yeah, but there's one thing I don't get."

L tilted his head inquisitively. "And that would be…?"

Sayu wrinkled her nose. "I thought Light was going out with Misa Amane."

A very awkward silence ensured, except for the obscene chattering of the other people gathered around and about them, and Sayu's lips spread into a large grin.

Light was rooted to the spot, aghast and not entirely sure how to respond. So, he did what any person would do to prevent themselves from whacking their sister senseless.

He balled his hands into tight fists, turned stiffly and began to walk away. However, he came to a jerking stop and looked over his shoulder to catch L and Sayu conversing as if the last comment had never been spoken.

"I'm not quite sure what you are on about, as none of us enjoy Misa Amane's company as it is, yet Light-kun chose to go out and spend the entire day with me. Of course, it's not like he has any other liable option."

"Oh, so you're the dominant one in the relationship?"

"Quite. It really depends on how you look at it, discerning instances where Light-kun failed to show promise in the activities we engage in. He always moans and complains, quoting he doesn't enjoy it enough. It makes me rather upset, so to say." The detective remarked, a fake pout adorning his face.

Sayu frowned. "Then, why don't you have a go?"

L tilted his head in confusion. "I'm always the one planning where we travel and what we shall do. I'm always, 'having a go', as you so remarkably put it."

The young girl laughed. "No! I meant you should take a crack at being the _Uke._"

Being L, the detective took a moment or two to comprehend this, before replying with a finger to his lips and his large black eyes slightly squinted, "Are you quite sure we are on the same topic here, Sayu San?"

Sayu shrugged. "Well, you should take a break being Seme and let Light do all that sort of kinky stuff Shonen-Ai guys do when they're having sex."

L backed away, eyes widening. "_Excuse me?"_ He said, his voice having risen only slightly. Light, who had been standing nearby, was trying to turn a response over in his brain. Yet, for some strange reason, he couldn't think of a carefully witty comeback that would not only get Sayu off their case but convince her that they weren't involved in any sort of relationship.

However, when the words '_sex'_ and _'kinky'_ breezed past his ears, he snapped to attention and turned quickly to his sister. In his viewpoint of vision, he saw L slowly backing away, Sayu with a big grin on her face and various people around them staring with worried looks on their faces.

The chain jingled as Light swept forward, standing in front of the obviously disturbed detective, and barked, "Sayu! Ryuzaki here is not my boyfriend! _I'm not gay!_"

Sayu raised an eyebrpw and stared at her brother straight in the eyes. "Explain the handcuffs then!"

"Circus tricks gone wrong! Come on, Ryuzaki!" Light spun around and grabbed L's wrist, dragging him away from the large line and the disturbed mind of his younger sister.

As soon as they were a fair distance away, however with Sayu shouting after them that sounded something suspiciously like, "Enjoy your date!" Light rounded on L.

"Well, looks like that didn't go well. Do we go home now?" He asked, trying hard to contain his anger and shock all at once. L blinked himself back to reality, and he replied, "Well, we are here, are we not? We might as well take the chance to see something else."

Light frowned. "But all the tickets were aimed at everyone seeing the Harry Potter movie. There's probably nothing else showing."

"Wrong." L simply stated, before pointing at one of the picture boards showing a large image of a newly aired movie.

The image consisted of two elegant looking ladies side by side, while a professional looking man stood in between them. The movie was titled, 'Confessions of a Broken Heart", and was framed by all manners of hearts and frilly ribbons.

It looked like a cheesy romance movie, and L seriously expected them to go and see it?

Together? While handcuffed? In a public theatre? Right after Sayu had called them a _couple?_

Obviously that was deemed so as L began to skulk towards the ticket booth. He held up two fingers in the peace sign, and the attendant handed two tickets to him with a polite smile. L exchanged notes, before turning back to Light, an excited gaze alighting his features.

"Light-kun?" He all of a sudden inquired. Light rolled his eyes, a tinge of crimson streaking his cheeks. "What?"

"Does Light-kun enjoy being Uke?" He asked simply as if it was the most non awkward question in the world.

Light stared at the detective and found the attendant behind the counter staring at them with an equally confused look.

Light bit his lip in embarrassment and mumbled, "What are you implying?"

"Nothing. It was just a simple question. Unless Light-kun wants me to go into detail into why I asked the question in the first place."

Light grew immediately interested. "Um, okay then. Explain."

L's lips spread into an impish smile, and he replied, "Well, I have reason to believe Light-kun is homosexual."

"Wait, _what?_"

"Either that or indeed very eccentric."

"Look at yourself!"

"I'm afraid you're wrong again. Because, I believe myself to be asexual rather than homosexual."

Light narrowed his eyes. Where had _that _all of a sudden come from? He was quite sure L knew Light had referred to his ecstatic tendencies rather than the detective's sexuality. It seemed like the only explanation was that L was so shallow minded to miss out on that very obvious aversion. But, that couldn't be it. L was too meticulous to overlook anything, even something so oblivious to the average human being.

Then what could it be? Could it be that maybe L had said a referral to his sexual perception actually try and convince himself he wasn't…

_Was L gay?_ Or was he too stubborn to admit that he felt sexual urges and emotions like every other single person in the world?

Whatever it was, Light pushed it away and replied, "Ahuh. Well, what reasons do you have to believe I'm gay?"

This caused a spark to flash across L's eyes. The kind of spark that appeared only when he had the chance to prove his point and humiliate someone. And that someone happened to be Light almost every time?

"Well, adding on from the times I discuss your perfectionist outlook on life-" This caused Light's eye to twitch in annoyance."-With you, I have also noted you prefer to be more, how would I put it…feminine? Than most men your age."

"Ryuzaki, I don't go parading around in dresses, thank you very much."

"Perhaps, but I can envision you quite clearly doing so."

Light sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Can we just hurry up and see the movie?"

L nodded. "Ah, but Light-kun is insisting quite urgently that we are to see a rather feminine movie that are supposedly for housewives and teenage girls only. That only negotiates the fact that-"

"_Shut up_ or I _swear_ I'll grab those tickets and shove them so far up your ass and out your mouth that you won't be able to stand for the rest of your life."

"Light-kun would quite enjoy that, no?"

"…_Ryuzaki."_

"Alright then, let us go. The theatre is calling."

***~3.:!hEaRtBeAtS!:.3~***

"This is boring…"

"Shh! You'll ruin it for others if you do not keep your mouth shut!"

"It's not worth watching though. It's actually really clear that Sebastian is cheating on Clara with Vicky. And eventually Clara will find out and either commit suicide or murder the two of them. That's the way it always goes in these sorts of movies."

L, hunched over on a soft red chair and the large screen light illuminating dauntingly off his pale features, gave his accomplice a look of utter disbelief.

"Must you be such a spoilsport?"

"A _what?_"

"A spoilsport is someone who ruins the experience for others, which is what you are doing right now."

Somebody hushed over at them, and L went immediately quiet, slowly lifting a popcorn piece absentmindedly to his lips. He placidly pushed it past his shining lips and chewed the soft piece of food. His mouth parted only slightly as he let out a small sigh and swallowed the contents delicately.

And then Light finally realized that he had been staring full on at the detective's manner of eating like it was the most interesting thing in the entire world.

He quickly caught himself and turned his gaze back to the movie. The feature film dragged on for another fifteen minutes, and the teen found his eyes slightly drooping from sheer and utter boredom.

"Oh, Sebastian!" The girl on the big screen mused. "Why don't you love me?"

Without thinking, Light mimcked the lines in a high pitched and scratchy feminine voice, "Oh, Sebastian! Why don't you love me?"

His sudden musing caused L to look at him strangely, before the detective quoted, "You sound like Misa San."

Light stifled a snort of laughter, and this caused the older man to smirk in turn. The same person hushed at them again, while L retaliated, "Shhh, yourself madam! We are trying to watch the movie!"

This comment caused Light to double up in laughter, and L burst into a fit of manly giggles. A rustling and thumping could be heard, and L looked up to see a large and rather dominating man looking down at them with annoyance etched into his coarse features.

_Oh lord, this couldn't be good._

"You better be quiet or I'm going to have to ask you to leave." The man, who sported an afro much like Aizawa's, was obviously trying to hold in his fury the same way Light did. L frowned, hiccupping a little from his sudden outburst. "I'm going to have to ask _you _to move, my good man. You see, I cannot see the screen with your large perm in the way. _I advise you get a better haircut._"

Light went silent. _Oh God, L had done it this time…_

The large man gritted his teeth and turned to Light. "Oi, fancypants! I think you better make your boyfriend shut up or I'll-"

L was quick to react, however, and he stood up quite high, balancing steadily on the edge of his chair, and tipped the contents of his popcorn box over the guy's head. "I said, _move._" L stated bluntly, before perching back down and looking up at the pissed off man with a triumphant smile.

Fury got a hold of the afro man, however, and he reached behind him and plucked a soda bottle from a small child's hands. As the child gave him a look of dismay, the man unscrewed the lid and tipped it over L's curled up form.

It splashed hoarsely down his rigid figure, soaking him senseless. L coughed heavily and began to shudder as the sudden cold impact began to take effect.

As the man burst out into harsh laughter, Light found himself, without realizing it, standing quickly to his feet and taking the collar of the man's flannel shirt in a clenched fist. He raised the other fist, ready to punch the man, when his victim screamed, "Security! Security! There's a madman attacking me! Security!"

Light came to his senses and let go of the man. Bending down quickly and scooping a shaking L into his arms bridal style, he whispered into the detective's ear, "C'mon, let's get out of here, or we're in huge trouble."

All L could do was bunch a fistful of Light's shirt in his fingers and nod weakly. The teen took the hint and retreated quickly through the rows of seats and towards the emergency exit.

Hearing footsteps thud after them, Light, having no idea where he was headed, sped up quickly and rounded a corner. Acting on the dire urge to escape, he yanked a nearby door open and scurried inside, closing it behind him with a soft click.

After a few moments, the sound of footsteps faded into the distance, and Light sighed in relief. Letting his eyes adjust to the sudden darkness, Light looked around. They appeared to be in some sort of cramped broom closet, with limited space to move and even lesser space as they were accompanied by an array of cleaning products that included one very old and dusty mop.

Light, L still cradled in his arms, proceeded to push the door handle downwards. It clicked, and Light sighed in relief, until the handle jarred.

L stirred a little as Light frantically beat at the door handle, before grunting in aggravation and looking around helplessly.

_Great. They were locked in a closet._

Light sighed and sunk down to the floor, leaning against the uncomfortable back wall. At the sudden movement, L opened his eyes and began to awkwardly move, when Light placed a hand in his jet black and soaking hair and said, "Don't. You'll get stuck if you move."

L nodded, even though it wasn't that clear in the suffocating darkness, and settled back down into the younger man's warm embrace. All that could be heard was their ragged breathing, and drops of soda dripped downwards onto Light's shirt, sending a chill down his spine.

As another droplet pierced his skin, Light shuddered and etched sideways a little, causing him to come face to face with L. The detective blinked his large eyes and placed a finger to his lips almost innocently.

Light could feel heat rush everywhere throughout his body and his stomach tingled with intensity. All of a sudden ignoring Light's advice from before, L started to rise from his curled up position and turned so he was facing Light on a frontwards angle.

He positioned himself so he was practically straddling Light's waist, and placed a hand on the younger man's chest.

_Thump. Thump. Thump._

What an interesting sound one's heart could make. Of course, the heart was only an internal organ specifically designed to function as a blood pumper around the body. Yet, on a symbolic level it represented so many things.

It was said to hold all of one's desires and secrets, every little thing a person truly wanted the most. L all of a sudden found himself thinking something absurd. If the heart held all the secrets, then perhaps it held the secret of Kira Light had been hiding away this entire time?

What if L could gain access? _What if…?_ No, that was just plain stupid. What was he going to do, cut out Light's actual heart and examine it? Like that would do any good…

Light let out a small sigh, and L could feel all those twisted feelings pool into his stomach once again.

_Twisted._

_Sick._

_Wrong._

_What was to gain from feeling this way?_ L was willing to risk everything…He was willing to let loose his own emotions it if meant finding Kira.

_He just had to know._

Without taking it into account, L leaned forward and pressed his ear against Light's chest, causing the teen to back even harder against the wall.

_Thump. Thump. Thump._

And there it was, only louder this time. Light's heart…was beating so fast…

"R-Ryuzaki…"

And then L whispered, "I can feel your heart beating, Light-kun…"

Light closed his eyes and leaned back against the wall. _Damnit! _L was doing it again! The stupid bastard kept manipulating Light's mind so that whenever they got close, he felt like embracing the older man and devouring his soul senselessly.

It was a way for L to try and shove the whole Kira factor on the poor teen. If they got close, somehow Light would find a way to try and push the detective away, and maybe rejection would flunctuate his…

No, that couldn't be it…But it _had _to be. What else could it possibly be?

_He hated it._

But then why did he so easily submit? He didn't want this…It was all just…

L knitted his eyebrows together and focused hard on Light's crimson face in the shadows. Why wasn't the teen making any moves to kill him? A suffocation process could've easily been achieved in this small space without anyone around to watch them.

No, that couldn't be achieved. If the authorities somehow found them and later on examined L's body for strangulation lines, the suspicion would immediately fall on Light, as he would've been the only one around when the murder had taken place, and knowing Light, he wasn't going to risk it all just to kill his greatest adversary…

_Would he?_

All of a sudden, Light opened his tightly clenched shut eyes and found himself staring deeply into L's irises. The detective blinked, and a wave of raw emotional lust imploded in Light's stomach. Something so predatorily hungry he just couldn't resist.

Without thinking (_damn, he had been doing that lately_), he leaned forward and smashed his lips against the detective's. L was caught off guard, and he simply kneeled there, wondering what the hell was actually happening.

Was Light…

_Kissing him?_

His slightly parted mouth, gaped open in astonishment, left a chance for Light to slip his tongue in between the gap. L shuddered and fell forward, pushing Light harder against the wall. His gritted his teeth and Light ran his tongue frenziedly over L's own.

L felt all coherent thoughts slip from his mind, and he began to submit to the sudden attack as Light nibbled lucidly on the older man's trembling lips. Soon the two were fighting for dominance, ice and fire competing viciously for the kill.

It was like a suffocating dance, one or the other suffering to take the lead but neither admitting defeat. Raw hunger and predatory instincts were what drove them now, and the desire to succeed and beat the other at this stagnant game was so exhilarating that it only drove the pair further and further into rapidly building insanity.

Light moaned loudly as L moved his assault to the teen's neck, biting softly on the tender skin and leaving tiny marks as a sign of their engaging sin.

L ran one hand through the soft amber tangles of Light's hair, and the teen wrapped his arms silkily around the detective's waist, drawing their bodies so close it seemed like an attempt to merge the two opposites into one.

But light could never coexist with shadow, and as soon as it seemed the ravaged moment would never end, the spark that had started all of this suddenly fizzed out into nothingness.

Light's senses came rushing back to him, and he roughly shoved L away, wiping his mouth placidly with a shaking hand.

What the _fuck_ had just happened? He had_ not _just _kissed_ his greatest enemy! He…

But Light didn't have time to react as L leaped at him once more and began the stimulating process all over again. Emotions unknown flooded his system, and his hands slipped up under L's shirt and he began clawing at the detective's pale skin, sending electrifying ripples pulsing through the older man's body.

L buckled and the time ended up in an awkward heap curled up together on the floor. The chain jingled as L entangled his legs with Light's, and just as the quickly repeated moment was beginning to become heated with intensity once more, sunlight flooded into their small and crowded space as the door opened with a creak.

"Wow. _Kinky_. I _like_ it!"

Light blinked his eyes rapidly and looked up at their intruder. Sayu grinned sheepishly back down at them, her long brown hair becoming rippled in the sunlight's relfection.

"Wha-What're you…" Light began to murmur. Sayu pointed a finger accusingly at them. "Aha! I _knew _it! I was right! Wait till Dad hears!"

* * *

><p><strong>*creepy smile* Told ya you'd like it! :3<strong>

**Anyways, R&R? And no flames, ESPECIALLY FOR THIS CHAPTER! XD And don't worry, it shall be continued XD**


	8. Chapter 8: Desperation

**AN: Hey everyone! It's me again! And FINALLY, I have made a comeback with another chapter. I'm not sure how the outlook on this will go, because maybe L is in the slightest bit OOC at the end…*gets hit with many bricks***

**Anyways, it's the spring holidays, so expect a lot more uploaded from me. I've got one more week left till school starts again, so at least expect maybe 2 chapters (including this one) written and uploaded by the end of the week. That's if I can fit it in my schedule :D**

**Okay, back onto the main topic, just gonna advertise a little and say go and have a look at these people's profiles, because they are made of awesome:**

**.net/u/2580091/deathcabforkira**

**.net/u/3122291/Talmorine01**

**.net/u/1643843/Viyola**

**.net/u/2886739/AiKo_Chan15**

**.net/u/2835719/wingfire24**

**Oh, and I was also wondering if you could check out my other things I've uploaded as well? I uploaded a BB x L poem not that long ago, and I've begun a new project involving Matt x Mello x Near. I've also written a Misa x Rem poem, which I hope you'll all like ^_^;**

**Disclaimer: Deathnote does not belong to me, but this story does. And so does L (I so heavenly wish. Damn Light, the lucky bastard).**

**Okay, I'll stop rambling now and let you read this very delicious (haha, to an extent) chapter. Enjoy! :D**

**Chapter Eight, Desperation.**

* * *

><p>The limousine swerved carefully into the underground lot with ease, however impatience rose stiffly within L. His clothing was still sticking clammily against his shivering skin, and his hair felt as sticky as honey.<p>

For the entire drive to the Headquarters, not a single word had passed between the two.

And Light preferred it that way.

As the car came to a noisy stop, L quickly clicked down the door handle and scrambled from the vehicle, pulling Light along roughly behind him.

L raised a hand at Watari, who bowed in sullen acknowledgement, and bounded towards the elevator. Light, strangely used to being pulled along like a useless rag doll, followed the detective hastily through the security checks and towards the steel frame of the elevator. The doors opened with an easy buzz, and the waltzed inside.

As they surged upwards towards the 27th floor, a dull classical tune flowed through their ears from the inbuilt speaker system designed for such a purpose. The two stood awkwardly side by side, L shuffling from foot to foot as the cold penetrated his body.

The seemingly long elevator ride was eating away at Light's patience, and he tilted his head to gaze absentmindedly at the detective.

L, however, was obviously trying to keep his gaze from diverting towards the teen. His eyesight was focused on the buttons used to control their destination.

Light gritted his teeth and went to tap L on the shoulder, but the detective cringed and shuffled against the cold wall nearest to him. He did _not_ want to be _anywhere_ near Light at that moment, especially after their charade in the cinema closet.

_Too bad they were handcuffed together._

For one moment, L considered actually ridding themselves of the handcuffs and gaining back what little sanity he had spared in the fruitless attempt to convict the teen.

The detective blinked, bringing himself back to the solemnly absent reality, and shook his head, spraying soda droplets about him.

That was what Light wanted. _Damn it!_ It hadn't even been a month, and already the teen was beginning to best the detective!

_That would never happen_. No matter what, even if it _killed _him, this case had to be solved.

Light was Kira. L was sure of it.

The only problem was how to make Light crack before he himself did so. As an idea began to form in L's screwed up mind, a small smile alighted his lips. From here on out, these _activities_ were only going to get more and more extreme. Of course, L had only limited his imagination for both of their sakes.

But how far was Light going to go to prove his innocence? And how far was L going to go to solve this case?

Before Light could question the man about his unexplained grin, the doors opened with a soft whir, and L shuffled out of the enclosed space.

He shuffled across the shiny linoleum floor, kicking off his old sneakers on the way, and made his way down the large hallways and towards their bedroom.

As Light closed the door behind him quickly, L dragged the teen towards the bathroom, the bottom of his jeans making scuffing noises along the carpet as he went.

Sliding the glass door to the side and being welcomed by the bright white tiled walls, L reached into the pocket of his jeans and withdrew with a set of jingling keys. Unlocking the handcuffs momentarily, however reattaching them for safety's sake to a metal bar sticking out of the wall specifically designed for such a purpose, the detective began to wriggle awkwardly out of his soaked shirt.

As he began to withdraw once arm, a sudden distressed thought entered his brain. L turned slowly towards Light, who stood nearby, arms crossed and with an annoyed grimace etched into his face.

Both men didn't seem to trust whatever was to come out of their mouths next, but Light became bold and remarked, "What?"

L blinked and could feel the distress mixing with those damn butterflies inside his stomach. _Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Fucking…_

"Well?"

"I would appreciate it if Light kun wouldn't peek at me as I disrobed."

The teen was momentarily confused. Why become so cautious when every other night they practically watched each other undress anyway?

And then memories of the events earlier on that day resurfaced, and he cringed a little at the thought. He still couldn't believe that had actually happened…

Light sighed and gritted his teeth. "Fine." He grunted and turned to face awkwardly on an angle.

However, L coughed and wiggled his finger in a spinning motion, inclining that the teen was to face the wall with his entire back to the detective.

Light rolled his eyes and turned stiffly to face the tiles, tapping a foot in annoyance. Light could hear L's shirt being dropped gently to the floor and rest in a sopping heap. It was then that he also heard the turning of a tap and the sound of water rushing against a hard surface, and curiosity overtaking, he turned abruptly to L leaning over the large bathtub centred in the middle of the room.

Steam began to rise from the surface of the cloudy water, and Light half shouted over the noise, "What are you doing, Ryuzaki?"

L however, chose to ignore the teen's intrusion, and he simply cocked his finger in the same fashion he had used only moments before.

Light groaned and turned back to the wall, shoving his hands into his pockets. Hearing a ruffling noise, and then a distinct splash and a contented sigh to follow, Light promptly guessed that the detective had slipped into the bathtub.

He blinked and looked down at his watch. The time read 6:47pm. Light sighed and ruffled his hair, trying very hard to contain his impatience. He narrowed his eyes and bit his lip, taking time to ponder everything that had happened before, albeit even letting his thoughts wonder to that prohibited area of his mind.

Remembering thoroughly the way L had fought viciously to become dominant in their lip-locking rage they had engaged in only hours before, the teen went crimson at the thought of what might've happened if Sayu hadn't intruded and thankfully pulled them from their frenzied trance.

_Why had it happened in the first place?_ Light was as sure as hell that he didn't have any romantic feelings towards L whatsoever.

_Then what were those twisted and sick emotions that pooled into his stomach every time he came into contact with the older man? Why was L the only person in the entire world to make his heart beat faster and make his breath catch in his throat?_

Nervous tension. L made him nervous, and it was only because they were engaged in a battle to the death.

_Why did he want to kiss him again and again?_

There was no such thing as falling for the enemy.

Yet Light knew for a fact that he wasn't Kira. How could he be when he had no memories whatsoever of committing any of the murders?

But, L wasn't convinced. The detective was never convinced unless he had hard, solid proof. Light's word was never enough, and that was what drove Light into hating L so much.

Not to mention the fact that they were complete opposites. L was dishevelled, lanky and failed to show promise in the aspects of both human interaction and emotions.

Light was…_well_, he didn't like to be an egotist, but he had to admit to himself that he was tall, gorgeous beyond normal human standards and a smart dresser. Plus, people could actually stand to be in a room with him, unlike the annoying detective.

The kiss they had shared was a mix between rising hormonal influences in the small space they had been cramped in, and the complete and utter _desire_ to get beneath one another's skin.

It was always a war, and always a war that would follow. Nothing else.

Shuffling from foot to foot as he heard water being splashed all over the floor, the teen couldn't resist standing around any longer and turned to face the detective.

_Oh, what a mistake that was._

Light's eyes widened as he looked at L's slender figure rise slowly out of the steamy trenches of the water and reach towards the bar of soap that was conveniently placed beside the tub on a small tray set aside for the purpose of holding bathroom objects.

Steam rose from the detective's pale as snow skin, and his normally ragged hair hung limp against his scalp. Water droplets hung limply from almost each strand of the raven nest, and as he arched his body further to reach towards the soap, water ran down his back and dripped onto the water's surface, sending ripples curdling all around the naked detective.

As Light stifled a gasp, then cursed himself for letting his guard down, L turned abruptly to the teen, and the younger of the two couldn't help but notice the droplets looking almost painted against L's feather eyelashes.

L's eyes widened and he sunk quickly back into the water, glaring at the teen with an alarmed look. Light stood there for a moment or two, comprehending how to contain his embarrassment, however the stimulation from the sudden onlooking doing nothing to help his current status.

He took a step forward, and L swiftly skirted to the edge of the tub farthest away from the teen, his pupils as dilated as a startled animal. Light made the mistake of taking another shaky step, his hands up in front of him as if that were to prove his innocence, and L took the action of throwing the bar of soap out of self defence and hitting Light square in the head.

The teen hissed in pain and buckled to his knees, rubbing at his throbbing skull. As L was preparing to throw a bottle of shampoo, Light cried, "Okay! I get it! Stop throwing things! I'm sorry I peeked!"

L glared at the teen and inquired through clenched teeth, "Apology not accepted. I think I made it obvious that Light kun was not to look at me as I bathed!"

"You only said that I wasn't to look at you when you were taking your clothes off!""Is _either_ action appropriate, however?"

The two went silent, and Light could feel his cheeks flare. "Well…n-no…But…"

"Then why did Light kun peek?"

Light looked up and their eyes caught. The teen swallowed and found it harder to breathe than usual. "I…I…Um…"

L tilted his head, shampoo bottle at the ready, and swam over to the edge of the bathtub that Light was leaning against.

"Since that incident in the closet, and perhaps a few instances before that, if Light-kun finding it hard to suppress his libido, and his closest sexually anticipating figure is perhaps me?"

Light's brain was beginning to fry, and he rose to his knees, trying to gather himself. "Of course not! That's just-"

"Then this all rounds back to my original question. Why did Light kun peek at me as I bathed, even though you specifically told me yourself that you were not homosexual, and I gave you the headway of not peeking at me in the first place?"

Light, not surprisingly, couldn't find anything to answer that. _Why did he look?_ Well, it was obviously because…_well…_

"Did Light kun…enjoy what he saw? Am I physically appealing to him?" Light heard a stuttered whisper emanate from the detective. He looked down to find the older man curling up into his knees and prodding at a stray rubber duck absentmindedly.

The teen blinked and rubbed a hand through his hair. "Um…well…_Why_ exactly would you ask that?"

L didn't move. "I'm just making conversation."

_A strange way to try and make conversation._

A stark silence echoed around the room for a minute or two, before Light bit his lip and replied, "Well…you're not ugly."

L looked up at the teen, slightly confused, until an idea began to form in his mind.

"Am I perhaps…_sexy?_"

Light almost choked on his own anxiety. "Wait, _what?_"

"You heard me."

Light blinked and ground his teeth against each other. Looking around wildly, he replied without looking at the detective, "Well…uhm…if you only wanted me opinion…"

"Yes?"

"Um…you're not that bad…"

"So, I am sexy?"

"Uh,,,Y-yeah…If that's how you want to put it, I suppose that would be…"

L put a finger to his lip and let his eyes wander to the ceiling. "_Interesting._" He simply mused.

Light blinked rapidly. "Wait! What're you implying? _Ryuzaki!_"

L grimaced. _This._ He could use this to his advantage. If Light became noticeably weaker during vantage points like this, L could manipulate the situation so it could turn in favour to him.

If the detective could manage to become closer to the obviously nerve wracked teen, then perhaps this case could take them somewhere successful.

But was L willing to risk his own emotions just to get inside Light's head?

He had done it before when they had kissed in the closet, but was he willing to do it all again?

It didn't necessarily becoming intimate with one another, but if it got to that point…

_Was he prepared for it?_

Brushing it away for further pondering, the detective sighed and said, "Light kun? What can I do to look more physically appealing to people?"

Light immediately snapped to attention, using the chance to jump off the awkward topic and onto a fresh one.

"Well, there's a whole lot you could actually do."

"Suggestions?"

"You could go ahead and wash your hair for a start."

The detective shook his head. "No. I cannot stand shampoo. It is utterly revolting. I only use it when I absolutely have to."

Light was taken aback. "Wait. You don't wash your hair? That's disgusting!"

"Not particularly. It does not bother me whatsoever."

The teen recoiled a little. You'd think that being the world's greatest detective that L would take a whole lot more pride in his appearance. But not L. Nope. The guy thought it all good to live in his own filth when he had the whole world of cleanliness at his disposal.

"That's…_unbelievable._ Even for you."

L tilted his head. "Oh? Is it really, Light kun?" He replied in a slightly snide tone.

That was it. The detective was challenging him.

"You're washing your hair."

"No."

"Yes!"

"I say no."

"I say yes or I swear I'm going to send you to hell, Ryuzaki."

The detective leaned forward a little, blinked, then his lips spread upwards into a snide smile. "15%, Light kun."

Light, giving in to the assault, screamed in fury and leaped towards the detective. The older man smoothly dodged and Light fell face first into the water, clothes and all.

L, distressed that the teen had fallen towards a more private space between them, stood up quickly but managed to slip on his own feet and came crashing down into the water,

Resurfacing to find Light rubbing water from his eyes, he used that unprecedented moment to make his getaway, but faltered a second too late and he felt Light's arm snake its way around his waist and drag him helplessly towards the teen.

Light growled and plucked the shampoo bottle from the water, all the while L wriggling harshly to get away from the teen. Light however, kept a firm grip around the detective's middle and squeezed the lavender scented liquid from the bottle into L's hair.

The detective instinctively shut his eyes but nonetheless continued to squirm, until Light began to run his hand firmly through L's hair, massaging the shampoo into the detective's scalp.

L slowly faltered his wriggling, until he leaned back into Light's embrace, finding he thoroughly enjoyed the fact that Light was petting him so…_gently._

If they ignored the fact that L was stark naked and that they were sitting in a bathtub together, then the moment seemed almost peaceful.

L slowly opened his eyes and looked up at the teen, who had a determined look on his face as he continued attacking L's thick mass of hair.

Light couldn't help but notice the detective was staring at him, and he darted his eyes back and forth between his work and L's own.

Yet, when there eyes locked, and that same predatory feeling from only hours before conjured inside the pit of his stomach, he knew what was coming.

Clenching his hands into fists, his breathing became faster as he sought to contain himself. But when L gave him that same look of pure puzzlement and innocence he remembered clearly seeing before their last kiss, it drove Light to the brink.

_He couldn't…It was too much to bare…He wanted to…_

But as he leaned down to lock lips once again with L, the bathroom door slid across with a smash and Light found himself shoving L's head under the water quickly.

He looked up to find the most horrifying sight that he had set his eyes upon in the last month. A young woman, around his own age, stood puffing in the doorway, sapphire eyes sparking with anger and blonde tangles falling about her shoulders.

And then she opened her mouth and shrieked, "LIGHT! WHY HAVEN'T YOU CALLED ME!"

_Oh god…Not now…Why did it have to be now?_

Misa Amane. The annoying disaster of a supermodel that somehow believed, (_much to Light's disbelief_) that she was to be betrothed to him for the rest of his days.

_As if being handcuffed to L wasn't enough._

As Light went to answer his uncanny 'girlfriend', Misa's distraught look turned to one of confusion. "Why are you having a bath with all your clothes on?"

Light gulped, trying to answer this sudden intrusion, when Misa gave him a seductive smile and began to unfasten her own shirt.

"Oh, do you mind if Misa Misa joins you?~" She giggled girlishly, and began to disrobe, when bubbles suddenly fizzed around Light's middle and L's head broke the surface of the water.

The detective coughed harshly, and glared at the teen. "Light-kun! How _dare-_" But he was cut off by a shriek that echoed all around the large, white room.

Misa looked between the two men, then at the chain jaunted against the wall.

L blinked and frowned. "What is Misa San doing here?" He asked.

Right then and there, Light realized how _awkward_ the situation really was.

As he fumbled around his brain to come up with a considerably thought out answer to explain why he and L were bathing together, he failed to predict L slowly getting out of the tub and skulking towards the model.

Misa screamed again and covered her eyes as L came towards her, ignoring the pile of towels folded up in the corner.

He placed both hands on her shoulders and spun her around, ushering her calmly from the bathroom and closing the door softly behind her.

Light stared at L. The older man peered over his shoulder with a finger to his lips and said, "Well, like they say, lather, rinse and repeat, Light-kun?"

***~3.:!hEaRtBeAtS!:.3~***

Light rubbed a towel through his damp hair and clicked his tongue in frustration. Now clad in pale blue pyjamas, the teen turned to L, who was busy attacking his sopping hair with a wire brush.

Sighing in frustration, the detective placed the hairbrush down beside the sink. He stood still for a second, as if contemplating a dire matter that required his assistance, when he squinted his eyes shut and shook his head madly, sending droplets of water spraying everywhere.

Light unfathomably seemed to be in his line of fire, and he jumped backwards wildly, almost knocking over a lamp in his wake.

L looked up quickly, startled by the sudden movement from Light, then thought nothing of it before wrapping a towel around his head and preparing to leave the bathroom.

Light, certainly not willing to spend a night next to a man with drenched hair, jerked his wrist in the other direction, causing L to come to a stop. The detective turned stiffly to stare at the teen, an almost frightened air about him.

"Yes, Light kun?":

"Aren't you going to dry your hair?"

"And how do you propose I do so?"

Light almost laughed and dragged the older man over to the sink. Opening the cupboard below, Light reached his hand in and began rummaging around. Brushing past a few orange scented soap bottles, some shaving cream and a stack of towels, his hands finally grasped the familiar object at the back of the cupboard.

L looked over his shoulder, interest becoming apparent, and when Light withdrew with an object in the shape of a gun, the detective stumbled backwards and began scrambling towards the door, momentarily forgetting that he was handcuffed to the potential and lethal killer that was Light Yagami.

How the teen had managed to smuggle a _firearm_ in the bathroom was beyond him, and when he turned to look back at his murderer, he was almost stunned to see the teen calmly plugging the killing device into the power point at the wall.

_Hold on a second._

When Light began to drag a chair from over in the corner towards the sink, L slowly edged back towards the teen and asked, "What on earth are you…?"

Light turned to him, as equally stunned as the detective. "You've never seen a hairdryer before, Ryuzaki?"

_Oh._

L blinked and put a finger to his lips. "What are you planning to do with it?"

"Feeding my pet _duck._ What the hell do you think I'm doing?"

L was confused still, until Light took him by the shoulders and shoved him down into the inviting turtle shaped armchair.

Light flipped the switch on the hairdryer and a loud whirring noise erupted the silence. The sound reminded L of helicopter blades, and it became so loud that he covered his oversensitive ears.

_Damn his falcon hearing._

Light ran his hand finely through the detective's hair, getting to the deeper and harder to dry parts. L's hair was so thick and unruly that is almost drove the teen mad. Making a quick decision, he reached into one of the open drawers and pulled out a pair of hairdressing scissors.

If Light wasn't going to become a detective when he grew older, sometimes his only other option he thought was to become a hairdresser.

It was really quite obvious how much he would have loved that particular profession if detective work hadn't been the biggest hobby of his besides tennis and reading. Ever since he was a child, he had privately (out of earshot of his parents) begged Sayu to let him flamboyantly cut and style her hair like all the famous celebrities in the magazines they secretly shared.

But of course, it's not like Light had taken it all so seriously. Of course, it didn't matter if his secret obsession had dragged on into his teen years, and it didn't matter that even to this day he sometimes got an urge so powerful to be creative that he had even thought about pruning the family cat.

As Light had switched off the hairdresser and began to go so far into his hairdresser role that one would think there was no hope of retrieving him back into the real world, L had turned to look at Light with a slightly disturbed look.

"Why does Light-kun have a look on his face that looks like he is about to have intercourse with my hair?"

Hearing this, the teen snapped from his daydream at the salon, cleared his throat and waved the scissors in front of L's face. "I'm going to cut your hair."

L's eyes widened. "You will _not._"

Light grinned evilly. "_Watch_ me."

But before the teen could begin, L stated calmly, "Watch _me._" And snatched the scissors from Light's hands and shoved them into his own pyjama pockets.

Light blinked in disbelief, then realizing what a complete idiot he looked like in front of the world's greatest detective, held his tongue and grimly switched the hairdryer back on and continued his work. This continued on for a minute or two, until L became bored of the silence and shouted over the noise, "I quite like this chair, you know."

Light, a look of deep concentration set on his face, replied loudly, "I don't. Frankly, it kind of scares me."

"Why would that be?"

Light thought for a moment, before replying, "I don't know…It looks creepy. Especially when it stares at you in the shower."

At this, L jerked, causing Light to falter and accidentally push the hottest part of the hairdryer into his hands. The teen yelped and dropped the device, nursing his hands against his chest. L flicked the switch off at the wall, and looked curiously at Light.

Surprised to see tears in the corner of Light's eyes, L tilted his head downwards to stare straight at the teen's face. "Are you alright? Let me take a look…"

Light looked up to find L staring at him with wide eyes, and he recoiled a little. "Look, it's nothing…Really…"

Light didn't expect the detective to reach forward and take his hands in his own, inspecting them thoroughly. "Nonsense. Even so, you really don't have a choice in the matter. You should know this by now, Light kun…"

Light could feel his cheeks tweak into a rosy shade, and as L rubbed his thumbs over Light's stinging palms, the teen's skin tingled with silent apprehension.

The teen bunched his hands into fists, causing L's fingers to become curled into Light's own, and the teen looked at the floor. "What…"

L searched the teen's face for any details of what he was trying to say. "_What..?_" He pressed.

Light swallowed his resentment and whispered, "What…_am_ I supposed to _know?_"

The detective was taken aback a little. "Whatever do you mean?"

The teen averted his gaze, with much intended effort, to look into L's shining irises. "What am I supposed to know?" He repeated, only with a little more confidence this time.

L blinked. Light was meant to know a lot of things, just like the rest of the human race. He was meant to know how to be human, how to act in certain situations, how to speak…

_How to be perfect._

But there was something shining in his honey eyes that spoke of something _more._ Something _deeper._

_And then L knew._

"Answers, Light kun. You need to know answers."

Light's eyelashes fluttered, causing one sparkling tear to race down his cheek and meet its spoiled fate with the floor. But L's hand seemed to react without his consent, and he caught the tear on the edge of his shaking finger delicately.

Raising it to eye level, the two stared at the droplet as it quivered on a slanted edge, before falling slowly to drop onto Light's knuckles. L dropped off his chair and shuffled forward a little until their faces were only inches apart. L's own eyes narrowed ever so slightly, brazen lashes brushing softly against Light's own in a soft butterfly kiss.

His soft lips parted, and the teen could feel the older man's breath making his skin tickle. "However, Light kun, to find the answers, we must first ask the _question._"

Light gasped as L gritted his teeth roughly and pushed Light roughly to the ground, and before the teen knew it, L had the pair of scissors at the ready to cut his adversary's throat.

L, straddling the teen, leaned downwards, slightly digging the weapon into Light's neck but not all the way to cut the skin.

He brushed his lips over Light's nose, and leaned his forehead against the teen's own. "Can you tell me something, Light kun?"

Light, meanwhile, couldn't completely comprehend what was happening. Once minute, it had all been peaceful, and then the tables had turned, and now here L was, pointing a sharp object at his throat.

Why was L doing this? What had driven the detective to act so violent?

_One wrong move and it was over._

Light tilted his head a little, and the detective closed his eyes. "Why am I so fascinated by you?"

The teen's breathing became rapid, and as he arched his neck to try and call Misa back in to save him, he felt a searing white pain tear through his shoulder.

He gasped and cried out in distress, his hand instinctively going to grab his wound as blood leaked into the puddles around them.

However, his wrist was grabbed roughly but L's hand, and Light opened his eyes to glare at his enemy in hatred.

Surely someone was behind the security cameras. Surely someone was coming to…

But when Light felt the detective beginning to shudder violently, all thoughts of escape seeped from his mind. L's grip on Light's wrist became weaker, until he let go entirely. The handcuff chain jingled silently as silent sobs wracked the older man's body, yet no tears ever fell.

And despite it all, despite being inexplicably stabbed, and being in a pain incomparable to anything else…

_All Light wanted to do was hold him._

Sitting up, despite blood fresh warm blood dribbling down his side, the teen came face to face with the detective. L's eyes were overshadowed, but there was no doubt within Light's mind that the older man couldn't contain it any longer.

L's lips parted to try and speak, but no words ever formed.

He had _never_ meant to stab Light…_It was a mistake…_He only wanted to put him in an instance that would promote the will of a confession out of him.

He knew that the scissors were a little over to the top, but it was all part of the act. Yet, for one simple second, why did he have an urge so powerful to murder Light?

_For one moment, L had felt like Kira himself._

And this is why the detective had broken, and now that Light had seen through the act, he was going to kill him.

He had gone too far…_He was going to die._

And then, all he felt was warmth engulfing his entire body, and a voice whispering to him, "L…Don't…I'm sorry…"

Light's embrace on the older man tightened, and his own sobs wracked his body. "You don't have to say anything…Just don't…_Please…_"

_And then L knew._

* * *

><p><strong>Ugh, I was up all night and the next morning typing this up. And I still have the Matt x Mello x Near one to type up as well!<strong>

**Oh well, I'll leave that till later. My back hurts and I haven't had breakfast yet and it's 12:00pm :/**

**Okay, like I have said before in earlier chapters, R&R? AND NO FLAMES OR I BURN YOU D:**


	9. Chapter 9: Indifferent

**AN: And after a long period of time (two months, maybe?) I finally have access to a computer, and a place where I can upload that isn't from my Ipod! (because Ipod's suck like that)**

**Okay, it's very late, and I know its no good excuse, but please forgive me. Life has been catching up, and for a time, yes, I did consider abandoning such a fic. But alas, my own reason and morality raced on ahead, catching me in their wake.**

**So, no, this fic will NOT be abandoned. I WILL finish it, to the best of my abilities at least ^^**

**Oh yeah, Happy New Year, everyone ^^**

**Disclaimer: Deathnote doesn't belong to me, but the Yaoi does. :3**

**PS: Please tell me if there is anything I need to do to make this chapter better. Much appreciated, thanks**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 9, Indifferent.<strong>

"Umm, Ryuzaki?"

A broad silence followed. Somehow, Touta Matsuda found it indifferent as to why he was (_purposely_) ignored by the detective, but figuring the man had simply misheard, shouted straight into his ear, "Ryuzaki!"

L jolted and fell forward off his chair, barely missing banging his forehead on the desk.

Gritting his teeth and ignoring the way Light grinned at him, he narrowed his eyes and retorted in a voice thick with annoyance, "What is it, Matsuda?"

The inexperienced rookie swallowed nervously at the dirty look his superior was giving him, and held out a shaking hand, revealing a sealed yellow envelope.

L snatched up the envelope, causing Matsuda to flinch, and scrambled back into his chair hurriedly.

Light was perplexed as to what the contents of the letter could be, and imagined a scenario where this envelope could possibly contain the very thing needed to move the case forward.

His excitement building on the news of Kira, Light was almost surprised to hear L mutter, "Oh, it's for you, Light-Kun."

_What?_

As curiosity smothered his excitement, he reached across to snag the envelope from the detective's hands, but became very frustrated when L moved out of the teen's reach.

Light lifted out of his chair in a flash, but in those brief moments L had retreated to as far as the chain would allow.

Light placed a hand on the chain and went to yank at it, when L's lips curled into a smile and he waggled his finger back and forth.

"Ah Ah, Light-Kun. Do you remember what happened the last time you tried such a thing?"

Light's hand immediately dropped to his side, and L perched himself on the desk.

Peeling the tape sealing carefully from the top, he opened it in a flash with a finger and retrieved the contents inside, allowing the exterior shell to float gently to the pale floor.

L quickly dabbed his tongue on his thumb and flicked through the sheets of paper he held, before scrutinizing them meticulously with a raised eyebrow.

Meanwhile, Light stood, limited by the fear of repeating events that were better off not being repeated again. _Damn it!_ Here he was, standing like a pathetic little child, while L was looking over papers that possibly contained invaluable information about him.

What about if it was his current grades at To-Oh University that he never attended?

What if one of his relatives had died?

What if Sachiko had written her son a letter about the closet incident? Did she really believe what Sayu had told her?

As the humiliation was coming to a point where it had begun to become unbearable, L read out aloud, "Dear Mr Yagami, We are pleased to inform you that you have been invited to the 124th official Anniversary of the Tokyo NPA, hosted by Deputy Director Koreyoshi Kitamura and his new lovely wife, Prudence Kitamura."

Light was confused. Not at the invitation (to which he had been invited more times than he could count) but more of the fact that he couldn't believe anybody would name a child Prudence, much less marry one.

L turned over the neatly presented card (adorned in flashy pink ribbons and the like) and squinted at the contents on the back. "Formal is expected, food and drink/alcohol will be served, and have a nice time."

L then scanned through the details of the location and the date of said anniversary, before setting them aside and placidly began to waddle back to his chair.

As soon as the chain became relaxed, Light sped forward and snatched the envelope from where L had been standing and held it triumphantly up in the air.

However, the detective merely had a bored look on his face as he sipped his tea and went back to staring at his computer monitor.

Light quickly looked over his letter, before raising an eyebrow and really taking this offer to mind.

As his father was the current chief of the NPA, it was only natural that he had also been invited along to come to the party. All important figures in the Japanese Taskforce were allowed to go.

That included Matsuda, Mogi, Aizawa...

Light turned his head slowly to look at L, who was absentmindedly drawing a pattern across his cheek with the end of a pocky stick.

The detective slowed to a stop and turned lazily to look at Light with that same bored expression.

However, Light almost regretted diverting his attention back to the detective as the older man's face brightened. _Oh god..._When L gave that look, it only meant one thing.

As the detective rose out of his chair, Light almost facepalmed. This was one of the only social events of the year that he attended, due to the fact that he had people there he could somewhat remotely relate to.

But this was the first year that Light was going to miss, all because of the fact _he was handcuffed to that damn detective._

Oh well, at least it was a chance to diminish the amount of times he looked like a fool in public because L absolutely refused to unlock the handcuffs unless they were to change clothing.

But as the detective stalked towards him with a vibrant spark in his obsidian eye, Light was beginning to have doubts.

_Surely...? L wouldn't..._

But before he knew it, L had suddenly become very close to him, causing his stomach to twist and turn in a silent panic, and the detective breathed, "Light Kun?"

Ignoring Matsuda's sudden jerk of the head at the proximity of the two men, Light bit his lip and replied, "What?"

"Do you want to go to this formal gathering?"

Was it a trick question? Light couldn't tell. He was too busy being swept away in those blackened oceans. But somehow, his logic managed to shine through and he replied, "What's it to you?"

L retreated a little, but was still close enough that their knees were nearly touching.

For some reason, L liked being close to the teen like this, and watching him struggle under his instructive gaze.

But instructions were unclear as L replied, "It is a chance for you to reunite with your family, and not to mention that you attend every other year. It is customary, and I won't allow this," L held up the handcuffs, "-To hinder you."

Light was momentarily confused, until he saw domination etch ever so slightly on L's face. _It was a challenge for them to investigate one another._

Light conjured up one of his fake but dazzling smiles, and replied, "You're too kind, Ryuzaki. I_ couldn't_ possibly drag you along with me though, so I'm afraid I'm stuck here."

"Oh? _But I insist_! Do not let little old me distract you from your fun!"

"But of course! Thank you, Ryuzaki!"

"The pleasure is all mine, Light Kun. Let us enjoy ourselves, hmm?"

Light noticed Matsuda nervously smile out of the corner of his eye, before shuffling away in a similar fashion that L used for everyday walking.

_The game is on, Ryuzaki_. Light thought wickedly as he sat down calmly at his computer.

_And may the best man win._

But of course, L wasn't prepared for this.

As Light handed him handful after handful of formal shirt, L was beginning to feel weak at the knees.

When Light was satisfied with the shirts, L almost sighed in relief, but then the teen moved onto the rack holding up matching pants to spare, L's annoyance built to its extent and he annoyingly discarded the pile of clothing onto the floor.

He would not stand here and be made a fool in public as Light's right-hand mall masher.

The teen turned to him in confusion, almost like an animal that had had been disturbed in its natural habitat (and believe it, this was Light's perfect habitat), and frowned. "You don't like them?"

L glared at the teen, before crossing his arms stubbornly. "If you wanted a shopping sidekick you should have called Misa Amane." He hissed.

Light held up his wrist, showing off the dangling chain, and rolled his eyes.

Turning back to the rack, he picked off a pair of silken black dress pants and held them against his waist.

He cleared his throat, causing L to look at him in alarm, and he waved a hand acknowledging towards the piece of clothing.

"Well?" He asked expectantly.

"Disgusting." L replied in a hoarse voice.

Taking L's word for ware, and on the knowledge that whatever the older man disliked Light's opinion tended to be the opposite, the teen rolled his eyes and added them to the ever growing pile on the floor.

As the teen's pile scaled higher and higher, L stood nearby, examining a crate full of bouncy balls that was placed conveniently outside of the Male's Clothing Section for some reason.

The balls were a manner of perplexing colours, ranging from the brightest neon greens to the deepest crimson reds.

L, finding nothing better to do, took an ocean blue ball up in his arms and began bouncing it mechanically up and down on the polished floor.

Ignoring the 'caution when wet' sign that had been placed on the recently mopped floor, the detective began to get into his little childish guise and a smile flickered on his lips as the ball continued to entrance the detective.

Deciding to test the scientific and gravity proportions of the children's rubber toy, the detective dared to move around like the basketball players he remembered seeing on the television screen.

He dribbled the ball awkwardly between his hands, and sidestepped to make room for a woman to walk past, not even momentarily pondering why she was giving him a look that suggested she had just seen something really strange.

L put a finger to his lips and decided to go football style as he changed the dribble from his hands to his feet.

Kicking it between his shins, and then passing it over his head with a brief flick of his shoe, the ball landed directly in front of the detective.

L decided to take on the role of David Beckham, and held his breath as he kicked the ball as hard as he could.

However, at the last second, L slipped on the wet floor and cuffed the ball with his heel instead of the inside.

The detective watched with wide eyes as his fame maker went flying past its target of beanbags and straight into the face of a little child.

The little child couldn't even utter a gasp as his eyes rolled in the back of his head and he collapsed to the floor, his leg twitching awfully.

As soon as he heard the mother scream, L knew he had to act fast.

Getting to his feet and grappling onto the side of the crate, he sent it toppling downwards.

As all the balls scattered outwards, L shouted, "Go, Pikachu!" And scrambled on out of there.

Light, despite only being a few feet away and hearing the chain rattle endlessly, was too washed up in admiring his clothes to care.

It was only when he heard the security siren go off and when he felt L pushing against him that he knew that something had gone wrong.

"What the fu-"

"Run now, talk later, Light-Kun."

"_Excuse me_?"

"You really didn't expect to be going in the outfit that you're wearing now, did you?"

L looked solemnly down at his usual attire of baggy jeans and a long sleeved baggy shirt.

He narrowed his eyebrows and put a finger to his lip in ignorant confusion.

Why was such clothing not allowed to be worn at this 'anniversary'? The detective wore this around the Taskforce headquarters each day and no one seemed to make a fuss.

As if Light had read the older man's mind, he rolled his eyes and placed his hands on L's shoulders, causing him to stiffen awkwardly.

"Ryuzaki." Light begun. "The invitation specifically requested any clothing worn to be of a formal genre."

L blinked, causing Light to tense this time, and replied, "But, would this not be considered 'formal', as it is worn by the one and only L?"

Light frowned at L's egotism, and sighed. Letting go of his shoulders, he muttered to himself, "You've got a lot of work to do, Light."

As the teen went about gathering his wits on what to do with the said detective, he felt the chain pull taut as L levered sideways from a fair distance to reach for his pair of old, worn out sneakers.

Light grimaced, and jerked his wrist calmly to gather L's attention. The detective turned stiffly to look at Light, and the teen gathered up a pile of clothes before gesturing to a makeshift clothing stall.

"May I?" He coughed.

L frowned ever so slightly and reached for the keys in his pocket.

He took a ready stance to either escape or retaliate, the same as what he had taken numerous times before when unlocking Light, and clicked the cuff open.

Light reached forward, causing L to flinch, before laughing and rubbing at his sore wrist with a steady hand.

Bending down and retrieving a lost shoe, the teen clicked his tongue and placidly moved into one of the stalls, all the while the detective cornering him like a wild animal.

The door closed and Light clicked it shut, thankful for being enclosed in such a space that there wasn't any openings for L to peek his head through.

Fearing death of suffocation instead, he focused on unbuttoning his plaid white shirt.

Letting it fall off his shoulders and drop to the floor, his hazel eyes darted to a thick white scar emblazoned on his shoulder.

Instinctively his hand met its mark, and he ran his fingers softly over the indentation.

A scarce feeling of panic ran through his chest, and he had to concentrate to keep his breathing thorough and steady.

Calming himself and counting to ten, he still couldn't keep the shudder from wracking through him as memories of L piercing his shoulder with the scissors came to mind.

It had taken at least three weeks for the wound to heal, but Light still had to take antibiotics everyday to make sure he wouldn't succumb to infection.

The stitches had been removed only yesterday, but the teen still feared the worse.

Taking a steady breath, he clenched his hands into fists and began to pull a white dress shirt over his head.

As per usual lately when moving his arms above his head, his scarred shoulder reacted with a sickening jolt of searing hot white pain, and Light almost crumpled to the floor in exhaustion.

Gritting his teeth and ignoring such a presence, he quickly fastened the buttons and reached from the pile a pair of black dress pants.

After dressing, Light looked at himself dauntingly in the mirror, fearing that such clothing Watari had prepared for them wouldn't suit his tastes.

Surprisingly, the old man had managed to meet Light's standards, and he almost twirled in glee, his new black jacket reflecting opals off the stale light from the ceiling.

Closing the door of the stall behind him, he was almost awestruck as he saw L absentmindedly gathering his own clothes.

The detective looked up at him with a bored glare, and he shuffled past Light towards the stall, apparently too caught up in his own resentment to try and defend himself against whatever attacks the teen had in hiding.

As the stall closed with a click, Light sat down on one of the leather sofas set aside.

Draining the last of his coffee, he tried to deprive himself of boredom by reciting the planets in order.

After three seconds of contemplation, he moved onto the harder subject of trying to understand Kira's mindset, a habit he had lately been finding himself falling into.

However, an even darker thought, more constant ever since that dreary night, penetrated through his barriers.

_L._

L, with his barren owl like gaze and his spiderlike posture.

L, with the attention span of a duck when it involved Light's interests, but with so much innocence it was almost suffocating.

Yet the same innocence ceased to exist in the eyes of those who depended on the detective to keep the world at peace.

But with such power, such a man could not even have time to comprehend why the birds whistled as they do and why the sky glowed pink as the sun set in the never-ending horizon.

The world's biggest mystery was not that of what lay in the ocean's depths, or even what the world's biggest mass murderer was hoping to achieve.

_No._ It was that of a man who's will was so broken, that somehow he made _Light want to fix it._

_Pain_. With the image of blood falling over his shoulder in folds of grey, _pain was the only thing that Light could make from this._

_Little did he know that such pain he was going to bare until his demise._

"Ryuzaki?"

"I'll only be a moment! Please be patient!"

"I've been patient for the last half hour! If you don't hurry up, that party's going to start without us!"

"Light-Kun! I'll have you know-What on earth are you doing?"

Light opened the door in his makeshift haste of anger, and he glared as the detective fell slowly to the floor.

His clothes were strewn about him in piles, and the detective seemingly only had half of what he was supposed to have on.

Light groaned, and took a step forward, but this caused L to shuffle backwards in terror.

Kira wasn't bound by the handcuffs at this moment, and Kira was surely going to want revenge from that scar etched onto his body.

As L cringed, ready to take the blow like a rejected animal, he was morally surprised as the teen pulled him to his feet and dusted him off quickly.

This left a chance for the detective to slap the teen's cheek rather comically, and Light was left to appear stunned.

"What was that for?"

"You startled me, that's all."

Light's frown tilted in annoyance, and he looked at the detective from head to toe.

By being half dressed, perhaps Light had been exaggerating just a little.

The detective's pants were all done up, nice and dandy, however his own dress shirt hung half open and his tie slung around his shoulders.

Light sighed and went to work, working from the bottom button upwards.

This caused L to flinch again, until he stood still from a harsh bark from the teen, and as Light began to fasten his tie, he couldn't help but catch his eye.

Light's hazel eye flashed with apprehension, but the unmistakable hunger L knew so well sparkled within it's transfixing depths.

The teen's movements became clumsy as he felt L's gaze on him, and he fumbled awkwardly with the tie.

About to call Watari in for assurance, Light felt something crawl down his face.

He jerked his gaze upwards to find L running his fingers softly down Light's cheekbone, tracing the skin line delicately.

The feeling was so sudden,_ so gentle_, that Light himself was transfixed.

As he began to come underneath the detective's spell that he somehow could so easily submit too, they were broken out of such a state when Matsuda's voice pierced, "Hey, Ryuzaki! The limo is-"

The colour drained from the rookie's face as he stared at the two men, who couldn't be any closer.

At this, L immediately retreated backwards, causing Light to almost fall forward in his wake.

Matsuda's face turned a deep embarrassing pink, and he stuttered, "W-Well...I-I mean...I r-really s-shouldn't have..."

L was the first to retaliate by snapping back, "Don't be so foolish, Matsuda. Light Kun was only helping to do up my tie, is all."

Matsuda yelped and cringed in a surprisingly similar fashion that L had done so before.

L huffed and clicked the cuffs around their wrists before padding out the door, leaving Light to be once again stunned by L's actions.

"What the hell is that?"

L turned to the teen, not all that surprised to hear such a thing uttered from his young accomplice.

What with the younger of the two was gawking at seemingly had an unusual air about it, but despite it's comedic indifferences, L thought it was entirely necessary.

The detective peered through the eyes of his makeshift fish mask, and replied in a voice that was muffled by the barrier, "It is a fish mask. Or is Light Kun all of a sudden blind?"

It took all of the teen's will not to burst out laughing as the limousine swerved calmly across an intersection and smoothed onto the highway.

"I meant, why are you wearing it?"

L blinked and sighed, before waggling his toes inside his dress shoes. His feet felt so constricted, even with the absence of socks...

"I have come to a conclusion."

"And that would be?"

L grunted, thinking that it would've been obvious to the teen. "Judging by the fact that we are going to a private party hosted by the deputy director of the Japanese police, and by the other fact that Kira was one who hacked into police files to gather information has led me to assume that Kira may be amongst the crowd."

He adjusted his mask before continuing, "And thus such a cautionary procedure is a smart move on my part."

Light frowned. They both very well knew that L had only ever narrowed down two possible suspicious families that were connected to the Japanese police, and that was the Takimuras and the...

_Yagamis._

Light gritted his teeth. Of course after careful consideration, he had been the top suspect on L's list. This they both knew, and that the chances of the actual Kira being there was slim to none.

_They why would L...?_

And that was when more fury rose within the teen.

The detective was playing with him. Not to abuse a confession out of him or to prove one of his own stupid points.

No, _L was making fun of Light._ Imagine the teen's reputation if he was seen at the party with such a comical person wearing an out of place fish mask.

Light fidgeted in his seat, resisting the urge to wrap his hands around L's throat and suffocate him to death.

_The detective had remained one step ahead of him this entire time!_

L seemed to notice Light's agitation, but his simple smirk could not be seen under his underwater demeanor.

"Are you-"

"Shut up, Ryuzaki."

The vehicle pulled to a sharp left all of a sudden, causing L (who had forgotten to strap himself in due to his mind being elsewhere) to slide icily across the seat and plummet next to Light.

As the driving once again became smoother, Light pushed the detective away, feeling a little queasy as he did so.

However, such an event reoccurred as they turned another left, more abrupt this time, and L lost his balance and fell headfirst into the teen's lap.

Light jolted from the sudden contact in such an area and bucked L over onto the floor.

L let out a sound much like an "Oomph!" before the limo all of a sudden came to a smooth stop.

The mask angled itself on an upright angle on L's head, and as the detective regained himself he straightened out the mask.

Before Watari could bow in respect, L bolted from the car in a haughty way, only to be greeted by a light drizzle as Light cannonballed out after him.

The detective looked solidly towards the grey skies and the welcoming rain, before flexing his shoulders and began to make his way across the carpark and towards the front entrances of the manor the invitation had been addressed to.

The manor was exquisite, as such a house was expected to be, with two iron gates rising to encompass it's majesty.

As was expected as they made their way towards the front entrance, passer-bys gave looks of either fright, confusion or disgust towards the two.

The doorman wasn't any different. Both of his pruned and perfect eyebrows rose melodically, which gave a chance for L to eye the man, who looked to be in his late twenties, suspiciously.

As Light returned the man a look of grief, he was in mid-chuckle but quickly disguised it as a rather comical cough.

L was about to double take, when Light ushered him along inside, receiving more than one worrying glance from the doorman as he passed (by one of which he couldn't mistake the creepy man inclining his gaze towards Light's ass in the same fashion a child would look at a puppy in a petstore window).

As soon as Light stepped over the threshold, a smile alighted his lips.

The atmosphere was calm as a soft classical melody floated from a performing band set up in one specific corner of the room.

The chandeliers above let off a soft warm glow, and a few glass windows were opened to let the late afternoon breeze flow through the packed space.

The walls were adorned here and there with different portraits and paintings of people from centuries past, and the roof was painted a majestic sky blue to go in contrast with the ceramic painted angels dotted in between the lacquer clouds.

It was something of a fairytale, very much like the main ballroom in the Disney film Beauty and the Beast.

This was more to his suiting, for every other year before they had normally gathered in an office building to celebrate unconditioned stale alcohol and the fact that the central heating didn't work as well as the invitation advised.

For such an anniversary to be as formal as it was this year puzzled Light, until the onlooking of a rather plump woman made the answer appear.

"Why hello there!" The woman, who's stale violet dress was packed so tight around her effeminate body that it made her large bosoms quite visible, spoke in rough Japanese.

Light was perplexed, until he remembered the lady's name from the invitation.

"You must be Prudence." Light held out his hand formerly, biting back a rather informal chuckle to the pronunciation of the English woman's name.

The woman laughed haughtily, making her large body jiggle in response. "And you are Light Yagami! So the rumours I have heard about Soichiro's son are true, then?"

This caused him to panic. _Rumours?_ What sorts of rumours were being spread? _Rumours about the teen being suspected as Kira?_

Light decided to be bold and replied, "And those would be?"

"That you're incredibly handsome! If only I were younger, well..."

Light almost gagged in response, but held his tongue. Such a compliment he knew could be taken as a compliment in the facet of the real reality, but to hear it come from such a woman...it didn't serve him too well.

Meanwhile, L stood a few feet away, surveying the crowd with the penetrating eyes postulating out of the fish mask.

As expected, onlookers continued to stare, but such a thing didn't bother the detective. After all, even without the fish mask people all around stared anyway.

It was obvious that the detective stood out from the crowd, what with their elegant getups and standards to follow.

However, to direct himself away from his slowly rising boredom, he averted his gaze from the formal crowds and found it lingering towards the buffet table standing only a few feet away.

L looked back at Light, who's back was to him but the look L imagined him to have on his face questionable, and slowly started to trudge carefully towards the table, careful not to make any sudden movements that would allow the chain to shake.

As soon as the chain reached its length, L found himself a few centimetres away from where he wanted to be.

Improvising, he took a stance similar to as if he was going to do squats, and reached towards the tables.

The fish mask allowed limited sight, and in a desperate attempt to fetch his prize, he took a moral lunge and felt his fingers grip around something square.

Whistling in triumph, L went to look at his catch when he heard Light cry out angrily, "Ryuzaki!"

Without a second thought, he lifted the mask and popped the square tidbit into his mouth, before replacing it back to its original position and turning quickly to face the agitated teen.

Light's temple was throbbing and he had to bite his lip to swallow the threats he wanted to spit at the detective. Instead, he brushed down his coat and rubbed at his grazed wrist.

"Ryuzaki." He began.

However, a problem _far worse_ had begun to generate within the detective's mouth.

For the food item he had just indulged in was nothing like the sweet sugar cubes that he so lavishly loved.

No, because for his misguided attempt at scoring a piece of delicious food, and despite it's cubic measures, _L had in fact eaten a block of pure wasabi._

It's texture was rather coarse, almost like a cracker, and at first the detective hadn't noticed.

But when he felt that prickling sensation in the back of his throat, and that undesirable spicy taste flare on his tongue, L finally knew the extent of his mistake.

Yet the fight for pride was the one and only thing keeping him from spitting it out full course onto the floor.

"We're at a goddamn social party, Ryuzaki. And if you didn't notice, I happened to be having a really important conversation with_-Are you alright?"_

The teen had finally noticed L's offset twitching, and the jerking of his head to the side as if he was bucking away a bothersome insect.

L nodded, but still that insistent twitching followed by a low moan continued, and this caused Light to narrow his eyes.

"You're a freak." He muttered, before turning away to readdress Prudence and her massive girth once more.

As soon as the teen had turned away, L lifted the mask and spat the mushy green substance into his hands.

Rolling his eyes in silent disgust, he set it neatly, (as neatly as a mushy pile would deem) back on the plate and frantically looked around for something to cool his mouth.

When he felt someone's hand pull on the back of his shirt, he barely had time to react as the said person passed him a bowl of strawberry ice-cream.

Forgetting manners and leaving caution behind, he dug the plastic spoon into the substance and shoveled it into his mouth. He kept repeating this until the entire bowl was empty, and he turned to his savior.

Adorned in a gorgeous savvy red dress to go in contrast with two ruby earrings dangling downwards to reach her shoulders, and with her silky brown hair pulled tightly back in a braid, Sayu Yagami grinned up at the detective with a pearly smile.

"What a surprise! You came with your boyfriend to this party?"

L was confused. "What do you...?" But that was when L understood that the young girl had the strange belief that Light and him were in some sort of romantic relationship.

_Preposterous_, of course. As if he would ever engage in such a thing.

_Romantic relationships involved hugging, kissing, coarse petting and eventually it would all lead up to..._

At the thought, L's stomach churned like a beast, and he could feel himself going pink. Thankful for the fish mask, he pulled it over his face and replied, "How many times do I have to state that Light Kun is NOT my boyfriend?"

This caused Sayu to laugh, and she reached up to touch the fish mask.

However, L flinched out of the way, leaving the younger girl to be perplexed.

"Why are you wearing that?"

Thankfully, L had come up with a rational reason this time. "With the added confusion of the handcuffs, Light and I have decided to pair up and become an illusionist duo."

However, Sayu wasn't convinced. "That doesn't explain why you're wearing the fish mask now, though."

L gritted his teeth. Must people be so questionable?

"Like Light Kun stated the last time we met, circus tricks gone wrong. My face is terribly scarred, so I must wear this mask to cover up my ugliness."

Sayu grinned. "But I saw your face before. You look perfectly fine."

The detective frowned. If this young girl had just gotten the better of him, then he realized he must be losing his spark.

He sighed and rubbed his forehead, and as he went to brush it all aside, an even greater idea formed and he turned back to Sayu.

After all, honesty couldn't hurt anybody, right?

"I'm wearing this to make a fool out of Light Kun. To wear such a comical mask is rather hilarious, but the perfect thing about it is that no one is able to see my face, and thus I shall only be known as 'that weird guy who came to the party with Light Yagami', bringing not humiliation to myself, but to the fact that Light did in fact bring a nutter to the biggest social event of the year."

Sayu grinned and nodded before letting loose a small and sly giggle.

"But what about Light?"

L tilted his head. "Did I not just explain it to you? By God, are all females this stupid?"

Sayu poked out her tongue, before replying, "No! I meant Light's feelings! Aren't you going to hurt them?"

This caused the older of the two to falter a little, before turning his head stiffly to look down at her, aware that his throat had just gone dry. "That's the entire point of it, no?"

As Sayu began to protest, Light came waltzing over, a proud demeanour overshadowing everything else.

But as soon as he laid his eyes on L, resent appeared, but only for a split second, and was soon replaced by surprise as Sayu came into view.

"Sayu?" Light asked, dumbly perplexed as to why his younger sister was attending the same party as he.

Until he remembered that they were, of course, related, and the invitation specified that if Light were to come, then his family was invited as well.

Light saw it as an advantage towards Sayu for whatever silent attack she was planning.

On that note, that was perhaps one of the only reasons he enjoyed being handcuffed to L; the glee in being away from his patronizing and lawless younger sister.

But then again, unfortunately L made up for that and much more, so such a deal wasn't so sweet after all.

As his sister went to reply, he cut her off rudely by addressing L, "Ryuzaki, gather yourself and take off that goddamn mask. We've been invited to dinner with Prudence and the Deputy Director."

As Light dragged L crudely away, he couldn't help but notice a cruel sparkle in Sayu's eye as she skipped along after them in a foxy gait.

And then his vision centred around an old man hobbling towards the table, and before L could shout the warning, he dipped a cracker sickeningly into the detective's blob of mushy wasabi, thinking it to be a delicious appetizer, and ate his snack with a pleasurable smile.

L had to do everything just to hold in his breakfast.

_L was nervous._ And as such, he had every right to be.

To one side, two pairs of narrowed blue eyes glared at him intensely from a set of overfed fraternal twins.

And to his other side sat Light, with such a sour look on his face that it made L slightly believe that perhaps he might have gone too far in his little practical joke.

For some unknown reason, his face was growing hot, and the fish mask all of a sudden felt more constricting than usual.

Taking a precautionary chance, all the while Prudence and her tackily dressed husband crudely making openly flirtatious compliments across the table to one another, the detective slowly lifted the fish mask off his face and let it rest above his forehead.

Slightly, but only very slightly, Light's auburn eyes softened, until pride took a curious hold once more and his features tightened.

Sitting a little way down from the teen was Sayu, wearing a smug smile as she bent down to take a small dappled terrier up in her arms.

And for all their nobility, the Takimura's thought it fine to allow an animal at the table?

Oh well. L had managed to let Light eat at the table every once in a while. _The teen could even handle cutlery._

The terrier wouldn't have made much a difference.

Smirking to himself, he was about to lay into his meal when he heard a sweet voice chorus, "Ryuzaki, was it?"

L snapped to attention, and immediately his finger found its way to his lip. This was the first unknown person who had acknowledged him. _How interesting._

His eyes came to rest on a gentle eyed woman, with short brown hair and a smile like honey. The perfect classification of a stay home mother.

And his recognition was right as the lady continued, "I'm not sure you know me," (Oh, that's right. L remembered her from the surveillance), "But I'm Sachiko Yagami, Light's mother. It's very nice to finally meet you."

L bowed his head in respect, before replying, "I can see where Light gets his good looks from then."

This caused the entire table to go silent, save for the fact that Sayu had all of a sudden burst out laughing.

This caused L to be confused, and Light to fidget uncontrollably in his chair, his cheeks going a deep crimson.

Sachiko was equally as red as she replied, "So, it was true then?"

Soichiro finally piped up. "Whatever do you mean?" He addressed his wife with a concerned look.

Sachiko blinked and replied in a lowered tone, "Sayu told me that Light..."

"Yes?" Soichiro pressed.

"Had a boyfriend."

"What?" Light and Soichiro shouted in unison, both rising to their feet in a symmetrically distraught fashion.

L, however, was amused, albeit perplexed. Despite doing extensive research on the teen before the period of time when the handcuffs were introduced, the closest thing Light had to consider a real partner was Misa Amane.

Unless Light had been involved in some sort of secret relationship from the start. Of course, having such high expectations from his family made it hard to express his homosexuality, as it was in most families.

But what if this certain person was in on the Kira case? _What if this alleged boyfriend was in fact the teen's partner in crime?_

Yet, this interesting theory was thrown out the window and replaced by embarrassment when Sayu claimed out loud, "Yeah! I saw them! Light and Ryuzaki here were all making out in the closet at the cinemas!"

L's jaw hung open in disbelief, while Light cringed with the onslaught of denial.

_It's not like...It actually ever..._

"Oh? You're gay, Light? What a shame. And with such an ugly looking boy as well." Prudence all of a sudden interrupted, her lipstick chock lips set in a tight line.

L frowned, a strange feeling of hurt stirring in his chest.

But Prudence continued. "I mean, just look at him! He's as skinny as a street rat. Speaking of the streets, is that where you picked him up from?"

L's negligence grew. Street rat? What_ on earth_ was this woman going on about?

And still she continued on nastily, "The way he sits, you'd think he's never been taught manners! Who honestly squats on their seat and eats like a monkey? Such a thing would be allowed in a zoo, but not here!"

L's eyes drooped, as did his dexterity. He all of a sudden didn't feel so obliged to be at this party anymore. Not after what this toad had just said.

Light, meanwhile, was still standing, that same distraught look on this face.

Yet, when Prudence began to point out the detective's faults, he silently agreed to himself, until the pressure builded and he felt himself pitching in.

"All he does is eat sweets as well. I mean, how unhealthy is that?"

Prudence giggled, her breasts jiggling in contrast with her exterior. "And with that awful haircut, who would even look at such a scrawny boy twice?"

L was stunned, and more or less readily hurt. Even Light had begun in the detective's sabotage.

And here the detective was, in no position to complain or even stand up for his own rights. No, for even without the fish mask, the detective had to conjure such a mask whenever out in public to hide the fact of being the world's greatest detective.

Of course, L knew he was eccentric. He had been ever since he was a child. But never before had he been crudely regarded in such a manner.

As Prudence went to start on his manner of speaking, he stood quite quickly, causing the chair to topple and fall onto its side.

This silenced the bout between Light and Prudence, save for the chain knocking against the table.

"Light Kun." L simply stated.

Light gave a half airy smirk, still basking in the fact that he had the chance to make fun of L. "What?" He almost snarled, immersed within his own resent for all the times L had the privilege to hurt the teen's pride.

L's frown deepened, as did the furrowing of his brows. "I believe it is time to leave."

Light became annoyed, and tried to remain prideful as he retaliated, "_Leave_? But the real party is only getting started."

L yanked at the chain, causing the teen to stand. "I say now. After all, _I am the Seme."_

This comment received a half-hearted chuckle from Sayu, and an imprudent glance from Prudence.

L bowed respectively at Sachiko, and said, "It was very nice to meet you. If you are still stuck on the theory that Light is homosexual and in a relationship with me, you don't have to worry, for such a thing is not true."

L took a moment to click his tongue, and blink, before adding, "But I'm afraid the true reality of the hopes of you getting grandchildren from Light shall be diminished. I believe Light Kun to be homosexual anyway, with the absence of me, of course."

And without another word, he shoved the fish mask over his face and stormed from the room, ignoring the now thoroughly confused Soichiro, and dragging a rather furious Light after him.

"What the hell was that about?" Light shouted as they quickly made their way through the front entrance and towards the carpark.

By now, the sky had turned a dastardly inky black as the storm clouds had gathered overhead, adding to the twilight of the early coming evening.

L rounded on Light, and with a huff, bunched up his fist and punched the teen square in the face.

Light reeled backwards, cursing loudly, and clutched at his now bleeding nose. "What the fuck, Ryuzaki!" He screeched, his voice muffled from his hands.

L, who was blinded by rage, thought of nothing but to cause the teen immense pain.

He gritted his teeth and roughly shoved him down onto the gravel, and as he raised his foot to slam it down into the teen's side, he felt his own grip slipping away as he fell from his feet and onto the road next to Light.

Groaning, he found the teen had grasped his hand around the detective's ankle.

The same furious spark was alighted in Light's eyes, and L lifted the mask from his face to get a better view of his opponent.

Light spat blood from his mouth and shakily found his way to his knees, never taking his eyes from L.

Both of them new that this would only eventually lead to more hate and resent between the two, yet as everyone said; violence never solved anything.

For this moment of rationality forgotten, L thought that for once, he would ignore such rationality and pit a war against reason.

With a wry smirk, the corners his lips twitching in response to his anger, L let loose a loud roar and launched himself (with the added might of an attacking lion) straight at Light.

But the teen had foreseen such a thing, and in a split second was on his stomach, drop rolling and scrambling away from the fallen detective.

L quickly regained composure, and was about to do another squatter's launch, before he felt himself pinned against the Manor's side wall, out of sight of the entrance to the doorway.

And the situation took a turn for the worst, and despite the detective knowing capoeira (a delicate system of martial arts that focused on one's centre of gravity more than anything else) the teen seemed to make the best out of such a situation by grinding him harder against the brick surface and pinning his arms above his head.

Ignoring the facet of such positions, Light growled through clenched teeth, "What's your fucking problem?"

At this, L found himself speechless, completely unable to gather the furious thoughts scattered about his skull.

Suddenly, lightning flashed and erupted the scenery all around from its dull grey teal into a fury of white.

The striking colour washed over the two men, and L couldn't help but notice that the teen had an almost demonic look in contrast to the stark sheen reflecting across his features.

He really and truly did look like the feared and hated Kira, and for a split second, L thought he might tremble out of pure fear.

To think that such a murderer might, no, _was_ standing over him with such an evil look made the detective begin to shake.

And then they were doused in a sheet of chilly rain that followed, and whatever menacing demeanour was once there was hidden away as Light's amber eyes widened in shock.

_Light had seen_. He had noticed the fear that had managed to penetrate the detective's boarders in those precious seconds of envelopment within the cold, cold embrace of the imaginary killer.

And then L realized that such weakness had shown, and when such thoughts of humiliation wracked his head, he began to redeem himself.

But such a chance was deprived as he felt Light's moist lips mash against his own in the teen's feeble attempt to try and understand such resonating fear.

And L was afraid, for this was the second (and hopefully the last) time that they had dared to cross over the thin line that drew them so close..._ but not close enough._

It wasn't enough in the first place, and for fear of public humiliation, the detective tried to push the teen away, but Light took this as a submission signal and wrapped his arms around the detective's neck, running his hand through his now sopping mass of black hair.

L let loose a shaky breath, creating mist in the air, before positioning his hands on Light's waist and feeling the teen move against his body almost as if they were dancing.

And as such, Light's grip grew stronger, and he moved one hand down the detective's back and over the sopping material of his dress jacket.

L's eyes fluttered, and he wriggled comically under Light's embrace, and the teen understood the message and stripped him of such an obstacle.

As the jacket fell to the ground, L ignored every rational thought in his head and attacked Light's neck predatorily, sucking delicately at the skin and making small nipping notions to suggest the needing to suppress any further urges.

_Oh god!_ _Oh god!_

Just as Light uttered a gurgled moan and was fumbling with his fingers to remove L's shirt, a small giggling penetrated the barrier they had unconventionally set up in retaliation against the outside world.

The two men immediately snapped to attention (albeit eager to begin again) and when Light spotted Sayu staring from between a clump of bushes, he pushed away from the whimpering detective and huffed gingerly past her towards the limo.

As he rounded the corner, he came face to face with the one other person he didn't want to face.

Soichiro, with a hesitant look in his eyes, asked, "Light, son, why did you leave the dinner table?"

Before Light could reply, Soichiro furrowed his brow and replied, "I understand that it is because you are handcuffed to Ryuzaki, and even if he is 'you know', that still doesn't excuse the common courtesy that comes with-"

"Dad. Stop. I get it. I spoke to him about it. Trust me."

His father's gaze softened, and he said, "Then why don't you come back inside?"

At this, Light's gaze turned automatically to look at L, who was standing a few feet away in the pouring rain in an almost shy position, rubbing his arm with his other hand and not meeting the teen's gaze.

For a moment, he looked almost...sad.

Light almost couldn't bring himself to peel his eyes away from such a sight, before he felt a gentle nudge from Soichiro and he turned stiffly to look at his father.

"You were saying?"

Soichiro frowned. "I said you should come back inside...Are you feeling alright, Light?"

Light found himself itching to sneak another glance, but remained completely still, using his perfect presentation skills to stare his father down in the eyes.

He shivered a little, and to add effect, wrapped his arms around his shoulders. "Look, dad, I would love to, but...well, shouldn't it be obvious?"

And it was, what with the rain pouring around them nonetheless, even if Soichiro was standing under a covered area of the building.

Soichiro stared with a hardened look for a moment, before his face relaxed and he gave his son a warm smile. "Alright Light. I understand."

Without a second to lose, Light nodded and stormed back in the rain, making his way into the carpark and towards the limo.

As the detective was dragged along aimlessly, his heart pounding in his ears, the only thing he could make out clearly was Sayu standing a few feet away, her own amber eyes sparkling with an emotion that looked almost like...

But before L could get his brain around why Sayu was giving him such a perplexing look, what with her lips tilted down in a frown and her eyebrows narrowed, he was plunged under the cold embrace of the rain again as he was pulled away from the younger girl.

Blinking droplets from his eyes, he turned to see Light pulling him past vehicles of all sorts, the chain pulled rather taut.

L's obsidian eyes dragged across the surface of the chain, to the cuff around Light's wrist, and finally to his awkwardly positioned hand.

And without understanding such a new thrill overtaking his body, the detective found himself rushing past the length of the chain and finally grasping Light's hand in his own.

Light stopped short of his path and turned to stare down at the detective's pale and spidery fingers entangling his own.

At first, disgust clouded his mind, and he went to wrench his hand away, until he caught sight of the look L was giving him.

L was hesitant within himself, and he realized his mistake a second too late and looked awkwardly away.

Such deduction was ignored though, as Light's heart beat faster, and without stopping to contemplate why his regret was being drained away, he curled his fingers around the detective's own.

L's grip immediately became tighter, and before Light knew how to proceed, he was pushed against the side of a car as L engulfed him in a rather awkward embrace.

Light's eyes widened, and his cheeks went red, but before he could react, a shrill siren pierced the air, and he looked around to find the source was coming from the car they had bumped into.

Before the teen could roll his eyes and grunt through his teeth, he felt himself being jerked weirdly away.

"Run!" He heard the detective utter, and with a burst of adrenaline, found himself bounding alongside the detective.

And as the limo came into view, they both failed to realize that their hands with still gripping each other's.

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><p><strong>R&amp;R? I'm sorry it took so long to upload ^^; NO FLAMES OR I EAT YOU LIKE A ZOMBIE 0-0<strong>


	10. Chapter 10: Reassurance

**AN: Thank you guys so much for all your reviews, and once again, I am back with another chapter :D This is my longest one yet, with a record of 12,401 words :3 I never really aim for a specific amount, and I usually just go with the flow, I suppose.**

**Anyways, the reason this is a little late is because I ended up moving house, and because of the stress I couldn't find time to put my thoughts and ideals into action to make this chapter worth reading (damn, I'd make a really shit Kira then).**

**Meanwhile, I've been spending my free time planning other fanfics, reading other fanfics, watching anime, reading books and stressing out a lot due to day to day life :D Despite the stress and panic attacks though, writing this fic is one of the only things that keeps me sane… ;**

**I'm planning on rewriting/editing a few earlier chapters to make up for my lack of enthusiasm on the beginning of the project and the total crapness that is the writing of Tkb4 XD**

**I actually took a particular risk with this chapter, the part where L is…no, I'm sure you'll know when you read it, and I don't want to spoil anything XD. Please, PLEASE tell me if that part is way to OOC or whatever…I really don't want to screw up again ^^**

**Okay, I'm in the process of planning ahead this time, so be prepared in the near future for a flood of chapters to come. (Maybe if I get them done in time o-o;)**

**Do I ramble on quite a lot? Tell me if I do that too XD Btw, I have finally worked out the ending to this. But it's going to take a while to tweak, so be sure to have your patience ready. I'm sure you're gonna like it, though ^^ I hope…:P**

**Disclaimer: Deathnote so totally is mine because I am Ohba and Obata meshed into one body, and I am fighting for dominance over the control of both L and Light's manhoods. Oh, and I can fly too because I have Ryuk with me :3 *sarcasm***

**But seriously, I don't own it, and neither do I own the phrase "Good and evil are so close to be chained together in the soul". (That's from Dr Jekyl and Mr Hyde, btw), and I don't own Trading Yesterday either.**

**Oh, and a huge thanks to my friend Georgia with her help on this project. Much appreciated, GG~. :3**

**Well, enjoy ^^**

**(Psst, don't hate me for what I've done to Matsuda…XD)**

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><p><strong>Chapter Ten, Reassurance.<strong>

The sound of the storm echoed all around, causing the normally calm and steady atmosphere to be filled with rising tension.

But as such, a 'calm and steady' situation was never permitted when thoughts of resent and a vile outlook on not only each other, but on the ideals of justice as well, were thickening the air in ferocious waves.

To be fair in his stead, L had not forgiven Light for the confrontation that had taken place only a day before.

To be _honest_, it was more the fact that L had not forgiven himself for falling headfirst into the sudden onslaught the teen had conducted.

What was more sickening in its place was that L craved _more_. He craved the intensified looks the teen gave him in such moments of passion. He craved the young boy's touch like a moth to a flame.

He wanted more of this. And what made the detective more pissed than ever was that he_ never understood why._

Self-respect had been a delusion between the barriers of L's mind. He was not ashamed to be silently obsessed with Light. As long as such a momentous phase remained silent.

_And as long as it remained just a phase._

L turned meekly to stare at the teen, who was seated in the bed next to him in all his splendour, fingers poised to flick over the page of the novel he had within his hands.

His dappled amber eyes, wrought with concentration, scanned the pages back and forth in a quick succession.

His head slightly tilted forward to provide a better positional guise for the onlooking of the hardback novel, Light's lips moved in a silent response, repeating the words inwardly to himself as he absorbed the world within the pages.

L blinked to clear his thoughts, but still the image of perfection remained, and as seemingly became brighter.

The detective's stomach curled at the brimming memory of Light's lips brushing against his, and he bit down slightly harder on his thumb to stop himself from launching hungrily at the younger man.

This didn't stop his head from twitching slightly to the side from the effort, and it also didn't stop the teen's gaze from rising upwards to meet L's eyes with his own.

Light's eyebrows narrowed in sullen confusion, and his voice ever so slightly became clear only to utter the detective's name in a whisper.

"Ryuzaki?"

L recoiled, but only slightly. "Yes, Light-Kun?"

"Stop staring at me. It's creepy."

This was enough to drive L from his dependent stupor, and proper reason drove its force into his skull.

The detective cleared his throat, pushing back his embarrassment along with the insistent tingling in his stomach, and replied, "Ah, I apologize. I suppose it is just..."

Light's features softened only slightly. "Yeah?" He pressed just as softly.

L blinked again and swallowed the nervous bile congesting in the back of his throat. "I need to take a walk. I believe some escape from this suffocating room would do me good."

And, just as expected, Light's annoyance showed in his features. With a frown, he snapped, "Well, go ahead and remove the cuffs, then."

"21 percent, Light-Kun."

Light sunk back into his pillows, biting back a snide retaliation. "Give me a break, Ryuzaki." He sighed, rubbing his forehead.

L tilted his head. "I'm sure that this will-"

"_Can it_, will you? I don't feel like walking around at _2am_ in the goddamn morning!"

"I suppose, but then why do you have the stability to keep your eyes open while reading a rather sexual scene in the novel you were indulged in?"

The teen widened his eyes and could feel the crimson pouring into his cheeks. "I wasn't reading a sexual scene!"

"Yes, you were."

"Prove it." And just as those words spilled from the teen he regretted his actions almost instantly.

L's lips turned upwards into a sly grin. "Well, you seem to have developed a cute habit of moving your lips while reading, pronouncing the words without actually speaking them out loud. Despite the fact you were keeping a completely straight face, the sentences, _'And then she moaned out his name in a voice thickened with lust almost made him'_-What's the matter?"

Throughout the entire explanation, Light's face had suddenly gone pale, and his eyes widened to a strange degree, almost as if he had just seen a ghost.

"Light Kun?"

"Y...You just..."

This was new. The detective had never seen the teen this nervous. Not that he remembered, at least not regarding the time L had almost drowned at the beach.

Taking the opportunity, L leaned forward to close the proximity between them and replied, "Yes?"

Light's cheeks highlighted crimson as the detective's sweet smelling breath tickled his cheek and muttered, "You just called me..._cute_."

L immediately recreated the distance. "No I didn't."

Light slowly rose, gathering himself. "Yes you did. I heard you." He accused with a sly grin, the nervousness hard to miss in his eyes.

"Prove it!" L retorted, his voice rising to a comically higher note.

Light looked in disbelief at the man he was handcuffed to.

But for some weird reason, he now had the urge to get out of that room and walk around to clear his head a little. Standing up, and making the bed creak as he did so, he pulled on a woollen purple dressing gown and tightened it about the waist.

L looked at him, still in the morbid act of flight in the state of fight. "What are you doing?"

Light turned almost wearily to look at him, aware that his heart rate had risen again since the reasoning to calm it once after reading what L had promptly stated.

Clearing his throat and mind from his perverted musings of the novel, he said, "You wanted a walk, right? Let's go then."

L nodded weakly, and stood, disregarding a pair of slippers set up neatly beside the bed, and made his way toward the door.

In the same instance though, Light and L reached for the door handle at the same time, and because of such, their hands collided, brushing against one another in a symmetrical fashion.

L was the first to fly backwards, holding his appendage against his chest like the handle had been a thousand degrees hotter than it actually looked. Light rolled his eyes and quickly opened the door, pulling L along after him.

L only just managed to close the door behind them as the teen thundered down the hallway, his footsteps exciting the shadows in his wake. Light's stride was forced, not unlike the smile he put up in retaliation against the detective's stupid and childish antics.

What L saw within the world was apparent. It was as if his very being was created to just annoy the crap out of him.

Light sighed, receiving another jabbered look from the detective striding delicately behind him, his feet barely making any sound as they skirted across the carpet.

Light couldn't help but feel cornered every time the older man looked at him. It was almost as if he could see into everything the teen was; what with those endless obsidian pits one would call eyes. Even in his sleep he couldn't escape from each and every waking moment.

L's voice, thick with ridicule, shouted out brash comments to the teen, and accusations to accumulate the theory of apparent treason. But in all the lies, Light knew the truth. He wasn't Kira.

Of course, however, L wanted to continue believing in such a lie, even when all evidence at the moment pointed away from the truth. _Or did it?_

Everything was silent, save for the sound of their own synchronised breathing.

Light came to a stop at the end of the hallway, the chain dangling uselessly in between the two, symbolizing the need to remain sane even when connected at every length to a maniac.

'_Good and evil are so close to be chained together in the soul.'_

There was never a moment of peace. Everything was slowly building to overcome the teen. And it all centred around that damn detective.

_L was everything he wanted to hate. But even then…_

"Why do you do it?" He snarled, turning on his heel to face the detective.

L snapped back to reality, and he put a finger to his lip as he replied, "Do...what?"

Light stepped forward defensively, which caused the detective to step back in sync, poised and ready to strike. "Why do you agitate me, Ryuzaki? Is THAT what you find fun?"

L's posture tightened. _What the hell was Light going on about_? "Clarify." He stated.

Light gripped at his head and shook it insanely. "I don't know! I don't know, I don't know, _I don't know_! You just have this weird...'You're just...'!"

"Yes? What are you trying to say, Light Kun?"

Light let out a sigh and lowered his head. "I don't know. Forget it."

But just as he turned to make his way into the living room space they shared, the detective, out of a sudden impulse that could not be negotiated reasonably, lunged forward and took the teen's hand in his own.

It wasn't known how this had come about, but L came to the conclusion that out of the will to somehow comfort his troubled colleague, the need to take his hand in his had become strong. Why he would feel such a desire, however, like many things concerning Light, still eluded him.

At the sudden contact, Light jolted, and out of impulse gripped at the older man's hand with an added force of recognition.

As the younger of the two turned to face his predecessor, the moment was interrupted by a small whimpering sound coming from a nearby corner.

Light stiffened, and his grip became iron in acknowledgement of the sound. L's hand went even paler and he struggled to feel the blood rushing to his fingers. But being in as much pain as he was, his curiosity took the cake.

Leading Light to the corner, he was almost surprised to see a black and shadowy lump shivering there.

At first he narrowed it down to Misa, being that she would be the only one who dared to come onto this private floor. But as her failed ambition for courtesy was as rash and futile as her attempts of getting Light to fall in love with her, he had to give her the credit of trying.

He was about to up and leave until he heard the whimper sound distinctly male.

And then all sorts of crazed theories ran through his mind.

Let's just say that none of these said theories helped to hinder the suspicions of L believing Light to be homosexual. _Especially if his makeshift girlfriend was in fact secretly male._

And then for a disturbed moment, L wondered how Misa could've made those breasts look so…_real._

But every single thought and conduction on the theory of Misa A Man'e was thrown out the window when he heard Light utter, "Matsuda?"

Cringing at his stupidity, L leaned forward to inspect the cowering man. Even with no moonlight to guide them, L was sure that Light's deduction was perfect.

L reached out a hand to awkwardly tap the rookie on the head. "Matsuda? Are you al-_WHA-?"_

L nearly toppled over backwards, because what had just happened was as nearly unbelievable as Misa Amane actually being a man. Matsuda, in his current state, had done the only thing he could make sense out of.

He had lunged headfirst into an awkward, one-sided hug with L.

L could feel himself becoming nervous. _Nobody_ just...hugged him out of the blue! Least of all Touta Matsuda!

But his outlook changed when he felt the man's body wrack with shudders and sobs against his stomach, and from closer inspection, the detective noticed that Matsuda seemed to be...crying.

Why such a thing was random, it wasn't rare for the rookie. _But this...?_

L looked at Light for support, but the teen was busy looking around for any evidence of what had caused this. Caught in the moment, and without a second thought, L nervously ran a hand through Matsuda's hair.

"...There there." He tried to comfort him, but his voice had all of a sudden gone dry. "What's wrong?" He tried to press instead.

His answer came sooner than expected as he noticed a blue fluorescent light from a mobile phone shine in Light's hands. But as he was about to question the teen's apparent look of dismay, the phone dropped to the floor out of his now shaking hands.

It semi bounced a little, until it landed on its side, and L had to tilt his head to view the screen on a proper angle.

His blood became cold as he read;

_'I'm sorry...But your mother has died from a heart attack.'_

_:HeartBeats:_

The next morning seemed to drag on aimlessly. Everything had a stale purchase, not to be brash about L's own long forgotten morning coffee. The detective was perched, as pale skinned as ever, on his computer chair, his pupils dilating as he stared at his blank computer screen. Light sat a few feet away, his head in his hands and his breathing irregular.

Matsuda had been excused from work for as long as time permitted his absence. Without the rookie's daily shine, the already dull office seemed more offset than usual. Nobody had traded words at all during the entire time they had arrived at work.

L had even put aside appointing everyone their usual assignments for the day, instead choosing to use this time to speculate on such a dilemma.

From what he remembered, the text message had specifically said that Matsuda's mother had died due to a heart attack. A further background check earlier on revealed that the woman was a convicted drug dealer, who had been spending the last few months on a pending trial.

Due to insufficient evidence, and lack of attention to such a matter, the final outcome had yet to be decided, instead being dragged around by a poorly constituted law. Seeing this, and due to the information given on her death, L had come to the conclusion that Kira had possibly gotten to her before the authorities had reached a final decision.

Even with Matsuda's limited intellect, the detective was sure that the rookie could connect the dots.

L wasn't worried about Matsuda's feelings in general concerning his beloved mother, but more on the fact of how this would affect the Kira case. Would the young officer just decide to up and leave due to such a thing? Or would his resent build to such a point that he would be more motivated to catch the killer?

That's when a sudden fear and realization of fact began to conjure in his mind. Was it just coincidence that this slow-killing Kira had happened to target Matsuda's own mother?

What if the rookie had leaked information in the outside world, and the murder of one of his co-worker's family members was a way to get closer to L?

It was a possibility, and one that he was sure he wasn't going to overlook so easily. But just as theories were theories, the detective couldn't seem to string up anything other than that one speculation.

Sighing in frustration, L went to share his thoughts with the sluggish teen, when Aizawa stormed into their space, holding a piece of paper above his head.

At this, everyone, excluding L, stood, anticipation rising within them. Aizawa let out a shaky breath as he leaned against a wall to steady himself. _One look_, and his eyes said it all.

Without a second to lose, L lunged forward towards the taller man, dragging an exasperated Light behind him. "Give that to me." L's voice was not threatening, but sterner than it usually was.

After a moment's hesitation, Aizawa nodded stiffly, and dropped the folded envelope into the detective's hands. Spinning to face Light, L ferociously tore the note open, and unfolded it without a moment's hesitation. As his eyes scanned the page and absorbed the words, what he had expected came to the surface.

_A moment's silence..._

"It says that you, Mr Aizawa, are invited to attend a funeral in mourning of Matsuda's recently deceased mother."

"Point out the obvious, will you Ryuzaki? I mean, come on, what else were you expecting?"

L gave a bitter look to his puffy haired colleague, and scanned over the letter once again to be sure of himself.

To be honest, he expected to the highest degree, a letter from Matsuda himself. But from reason and fact, the instance where he hadn't sent them a letter just proved that the rookie wasn't as stupid as L thought.

Well, despite that, it still would've been nice to receive a personal letter. After all, such a childish thing somehow made L, rather like most children would, feel loved and whole.

Clearing his throat, and turning back to the group of waiting workers, L raised both nonexistent eyebrows sternly. Light, with an equally overrated look, was almost surprised to hear, "We are all going to attend this funeral. Is that clear?"

_Wait, what?_

The same affect seemed to be postulating through the small crowd. Apparently they all had the same theory Light did. Since when did L care for a part in any personal matter of anyone's whatsoever?

Well, personal privacy between him and Light was a big factor, but besides that obvious conclusion, why else would he care?

Soichiro broke the silence by asking brashly, "When is it?"

"Tomorrow. At Tokyo's central graveyard."

Light's father gave a stiff nod, but besides that everyone remained silent.

As if it was what L expected, the detective gave a nod of his own, an implication to dismiss everyone present, and went to turn back to his computer, when Aizawa's cockatoo voice streaked through the air.

"I don't get you, Ryuzaki! One minute you're a complete and total emotionless ass, and then the next you all of a sudden give a damn about the rest of us! _What the hell is up with that?"_

Light smirked. He couldn't have said it better himself.

"You want to know why I suddenly care, Mr Aizawa?" L's voice was quiet. Aizawa hesitated, before nodding roughly. "You heard me."

L's head inclined until he was looking over his hunched shoulder, his inky gaze fixated on the older man.

"It's simply a matter of courtesy. He works for me, and so attending this event is enough to repay the favour."

And without another word, the detective skulked past him, dragging the teen along with him, and out the door, forgetting the fact that his laptop still sat, buzzing and its lid carelessly left open to reveal an unusually blank screen.

All the while, L could feel his colleagues' eyes on him, watching him like a pack of wild animals, ready to strike at any given time. And as such, L took the notion into account as he ascended the glass stairs leading upwards and to the hallway where their room was situated.

_One wrong move, and suddenly the Taskforce were going to be against him as well._

"Hey, Ryuzaki?"

L had almost forgotten that Light had been following him, his own robust brown eyes reading L's face as if it were his own reflection. Being handcuffed to the teen on a daily basis had become so natural, that L almost feared the change of the day to come was going to be imminent.

But then again, such a thing was ridiculous, as one person's freedom was another's gain. Of course, it would have been stupid to consider the handcuff arrangement enjoyable and..._wanted._

"Yes Light-Kun?" He muttered a little too low, giving a chance for the teen to press forward with a bluntly delivered device.

"I know why you want to attend the funeral."

At this, L became noticeably stiffer, and Light could feel the movement flood down the chain and collide with his wrist.

"You...feel sorry for him. You want to be nice, and be there for him, like a..."

"A?"

"Friend."

Despite years of constant practice of keeping his poker face unreadable and revealing body language to a minimum; the detective couldn't disguise the nervous cough that wracked his chest.

"I'm afraid that's entirely incorrect, Light-Kun."

"Oh please. Stop acting like a tight assed bastard and look at reality for once."

L grimaced. Reality was all he could focus on. After all, catching Kira was his reality.

_But what about the newly found sensation he found within the eyes of the boy who may very well steal his life away in the end?_

L shook his head and gritted his teeth. Oh how he _loathed_ Light Yagami. How he loathed the natural ability he harboured on deducting the detective's every single thought, every single theory...

Sometimes it felt that even his own memories were at the hands of the suspected individual. But he couldn't lead himself to believe that, for if a fictional fact were to swallow him whole, the fear he resented would build, and then panic would rise.

_And then what could he do?_

Sighing in defeat, L waved a hand nonchalantly at the teen. "Well, whatever you say. What I really want at the moment right now is to focus on the more important subject at hand; catching Kira. And you should as well."

Light rolled his eyes in annoyance. "You're being stubborn. I know I'm right."

"Not stubborn, but perhaps I'm just getting tired of your questions."

"Well, look at the position I'm in, Ryuzaki. We're not so different there, are we?"

L ignored him and continued to ascend the stairs, a headache beginning to form in the corner of his brain. Light followed and shoved his hands into his trouser pockets, a scowl set on his face. "You know what I think? This was exactly like the time when we were sitting with Misa-"

"Don't bring up that ridiculous girl now. Please."

"In her apartment, and you were all depressed because the almighty L's deduction was _wrong_. You hate losing. You hate being bested."

L rolled his eyes. "_I could say the same about you._ The difference between us, however, is that I already have you in custody and I know for a fact that you are Kira, yet you never seem to yield. Why don't you go ahead and confess already? It would save the both of us a lot of trouble, you know."

Light jerked to a stop, causing L to nearly slip up on a step. He raised an eyebrow and faced the teen, an interested look pertaining to the younger's sudden defiance.

"I'm not Kira! How many times do I have to tell you that?"

L sighed, his headache becoming greater. "You don't. We wait and see how the evidence gathers, and then we will reach a decision. Now come, I feel like cake."

The gothic archetype of the cathedral was not only chilling, but breathtaking as well.

:HeartBeats:

In contrast to the grey skies above and the slight drizzle of rain dampening the earth around, the given scene looked like something out of a horror film.

Closing the door of the limo with a sharp click, Light turned to surveillance the area.

It was outstanding, how when standing in the middle of a spooky graveyard the skyscrapers of the surrounding city towered above them, encasing the area rather menacingly. The clouds above were reflecting off the bright and large windows of the taller buildings, reminding one just how society was progressing in the realm of reality.

No one was sure why the graveyard and cathedral had remained. Even though there had been warrants sent out by officials to knock the structures to the ground to make way for more buildings, it was like the public did not want to lose the centrepiece of the city.

As long as history remained, so did respect for the authorities who kept it intact.

But still, this building didn't have an inch of Japanese air about it. So, there wasn't really any point in respecting such a building's 'Japanese' history when its history was obviously obstructed elsewhere.

Light however was pulled from his musings as he was dragged solemnly along behind L, who had begun to make his way to the arched entrance of the building.

The teen couldn't bring himself to believe that even at a funeral, the older detective had refused to remove the handcuffs. It was rather obvious, but as L had quoted; "Death at a funeral, Light-Kun. What could be more convenient for Kira?", Light knew better than to argue.

Pouting and ignoring the complacent and confused looks onlookers all around gave, he sped up his pace to match L's and passed through the entrance of the church. A nearby advisor bowed in respect, before his polite gaze turned to one of slight disturbance at the sight of L and Light's hands cuffed together.

He bowed again, but this time shakily, as if rendering the mistake he had made earlier.

Light rolled his eyes and shrugged in nonchalant annoyance, before taking a pamphlet from the nearby table, L doing the same. Without a word to spare, they made their way down the aisles and towards the front, where the rest of the crew had already gathered.

Standing straight in the middle of a crowd of solemn and mourning people was Matsuda, perhaps with the saddest look that Light had ever seen on him. At first, the rookie's seemingly fazed over eyes scanned right past the two in a hopeless attempt at taking in everything around, until he realized what he had missed and his expression turned to one of surprise.

"Ryuzaki?" He cried, his voice echoing all around. It seemed the idle rookie had the same idea as the rest of the Taskforce.

His loud outburst caused the entire crowd to turn their eyes on him, their faces filled with interest.

L grimaced, and scratched the back of his head sheepishly. Well, even when times permitted, it still unnerved the detective to be the direct centre of basic social attention.

A hushed whisper could be heard as Matsuda stepped forward to shake his hand, then proceeded to shake Light's. L could feel eyes all around and it sent a shudder through his body.

To make matters worse, the chain between them clinked against a table's surface, drawing even more attention than before.

L blinked, and was about to act on the impulse of escape, when Light came to the rescue. "Thanks for inviting us, Matsuda. I'm really sorry about your loss."

L and Matsuda both stared in disbelief at the teen, before the rookie gave a wry smirk and shook his head. "Nah, don't worry about it. She was getting old anyway."

Light let out a small chuckle, and meanwhile L noticed the crowd had once again begun to chatter amongst themselves, albeit one or two beady pairs of eyes staring curiously at the newcomers.

"It's nice to see you acting calm." Light continued, ignoring the fact of the matter Matsuda saying such a thing.

"Well, I don't think there's anything else I can do. Mom wouldn't want me crying, you know. She was always like that...Always saying that if I didn't smile at least once a day, even if it was forced, she'd somehow know and come and beat my-"

"It's nice to know she cared." The teen interrupted, rubbing the bridge of his nose between two fingers.

Meanwhile, L scanned the crowd, looking for any familiar faces under the right of entertaining himself. He spotted one or two familiar faces from the NPA anniversary dinner, but other than that...-

L's eyes became wider than normal, and his heart of rationality dropped about a metre towards the ground. Searching around frantically, he dropped and rolled behind a just as frantic crowd as they stared at the strange man who seemed to have an impulse similar to a chameleon. Thinking he could camouflage behind the dark clothing of the crowd, L peered curiously from behind the back of a woman who was giving him a panicked look.

For who had just stepped in his field of vision, her bosom as blooming as ever, was none other than the cow of a woman Prudence Takimura.

Once again tightly packed in a, this time an ugly green, dress that she somehow thought could hold in all the rolls of extra fat, and her face smeared in enough makeup he thought her eyeballs would crack, the woman was standing only a few feet away by the buffet table, none too convincingly trying to snatch a few extra shrimp cocktails in her leather purse.

The very nature and status of this woman was enough to make the detective retch in disgust, and from the effort he scooted backwards, still seated on his rear.

However, his attempt was short-lived as he managed to trip up a member of the group he was hiding behind. The person fell with a gurgled cry, and on instinct he reached out and caught the figure within his grasp.

Shaking his head and brushing his fringe out of his eyes, he was almost surprised to find that Sayu Yagami was curled up in his arms, shaking in the silky black dress she was clad in.

She snapped open her dappled almond eyes and with a gasp recoiled onto the floor at the sight of L. For some reason, her pupils were more dilated than usual, and her usual rosy complexion was unnaturally pale.

_...Did L really look that terrifying?_

"Are you alright?" He tried to reassure the young girl, but on impulse she lashed out and caught him square on the nose. With a yelp he clutched at his aching appendage and managed to fall back down on his backside.

Whimpering a little, he went to stand, until he saw Light reach a hand out to help him up. Hesitating a little, and nearly missing the fake concern within the teen's eyes, he swallowed his pride and grabbed the hand.

But suddenly, L found himself victim to Light's hands all over, brushing his black suit down with the surprisingly natural ability of skirting. L cringed a little in embarrassment as a hand brushed past a more private area of his body, but soon enough he was free of the sweeping motion of the younger male.

Light turned to his sister, an eyebrow raised. "Sayu. What are you doing here?" He said in a stern voice. Sayu looked as if words had failed her, and before he could press forward, Sachiko suddenly appeared by her daughter's side, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"Oh, Light! I didn't expect to see you here. I thought you were still away on that Mathematics camp."

Light, this time, almost cringed himself. The only flaw with the plan of staying with L, despite the handcuffs, was the stupid lies Soichiro had managed to come up with to convince his family where exactly Light was going to be. So far, the idea of a mathematics camp wasn't going too smoothly.

Light shrugged, keeping a calm composure. "Dad said that he was going to attend the funeral, and since I had some free time on my hands, I figured 'Hey, why not come?' So, here we are."

Sachiko gave a confused tilt of her head. "But Soichiro never...-" However, her attention was deprived as she finally realized L had been standing there the entire time, a finger in his mouth as he examined the woman with large black eyes.

And then she noticed that he was still handcuffed to her son.

Flushing a little, she waved her hand politely. "Oh! I'm sorry, Ryuzaki, was it? Excuse my interruption. It was very rude of me." L shook his head. "No, it was my fault. I apologize in advance. I shouldn't have acted so carelessly."

Light's mother gave her trademark warm smile, and dismissing the act of asking about the handcuffs, she replied, "If I may, how is it going with my son? I hope he's not too much of a bother. I mean, it's not that surprising really. We always had suspicions ever since he was a child, yet-"

"If I may, Mrs Yagami, what on earth are you going on about?"

Light gritted his teeth and turned away, feeling a blush spread on his cheeks. Of course Sayu had to convince Sachiko as well. Not that there was any convincing to do, to be exact.

_But that little brat..._

"Oh, I'm sorry. Am I mistaken in not knowing that Light is your-"

"Colleague?"

"Boyfriend." Oh look, no apprehension there_. Typical._ L furrowed his brow and grimaced, almost letting out a growl of annoyance.

"Mrs Yagami, I assure you that there is nothing of the sort happening between your son and I. It's all a simple misunderstanding_._" _Nothing happening? Where had his reasoning to see the truth gone?_

Sachiko appeared almost relieved. "Oh well, I thought as much. I apologize for that as well..."

That was then a sudden realization became clear to Light.

"Mom, what do you mean...you always had suspicions...?"

His mother gave an innocent look, while L grinned in turn. _How amusing._ A mother's intuition was always best, as they usually said.

"U-Uhm, now Light, darling...It's not a real big deal. We've always understood you to be a little..."

"A little, what? I'm not gay, mom!"

"I was going to say eccentric! But I clearly see that I've made a mistake..."

The teen's outlook became softer, and he sighed in defeat. "Mom, I'm sorry, but you can't go around making assumptions without anything to back it up with." At this, he almost turned to glare at L, who was standing nearby in the same fashion he was before.

"Anyway, what are you doing here?" He continued.

Sachiko petted her still distraught daughter on the head softly. "Well, Touta has been a family friend for a while, and when your father informed us that Sen had died, well, we couldn't just sit back and relax, could we? So here we are."

At that, Sayu uttered something under her breath, and her brother gave a piqued look of interest. "Something up?" He asked.

Sachiko shook her head. "She's been like this the entire morning. I think it's because she isn't all that fond of funerals. But really, who is?"

Light shrugged, and turned back to L, who was bobbing like a meerkat and looking towards a rather large member of the crowd who happened to be standing near the buffet table.

"What are you doing, Ryuzaki?" He grimaced and crossed his arms over his chest.

"She's here. Don't you realize?"

"Who...?"

"Prudence Takimura."

_Oh._

The teen turned, and sure enough there she was standing not too far away, scanning the crowd with her unnerving falcon eyed gaze. Light cursed under his breath and looked around wildly for a hiding place. Spotting a nearby door, he made his way toward it. It seemed as if the detective had the same idea, and they closed it behind them in a hurry.

Leaning against the wall with a sigh, he was suddenly interrupted by a small and waning cry from L. Turning in disbelief that perhaps Prudence had cornered them somehow, the reason for L's outburst became apparent and he almost let out a hoarse scream himself.

For lying in front of them, dressed reservedly for the occasion, was the pale face of an old woman's corpse. At this, they panicked, and in the flood of fear they found themselves clutching at each other rather comically. They stepped forward in sync, still embracing one another, and leaned over to examine the body.

The woman's features were peaceful, almost like she was in a deep slumber that she would never awaken from. For some strange reason, L extended a spidery finger and prodded the corpse's face delicately, yet with a shudder he retreated and wiped the invisible 'germs' on the teen's shoulder. Light groaned loudly. "Ryuzaki, that's so gross!"

L blinked and swallowed back a bark of adherence. "Well, I wanted-"

"Wha-?"

"To see if she was truly dead."

Light gave L a look of major disbelief, and then suddenly the realization that they were attending a funeral became even clearer than before, and Light swore loudly again. They had accidentally stumbled upon the room where the body of Matsuda's mother was being held.

After all, could there be a better explanation?

Obviously not, for as soon as they had regained their senses, the door behind them opened, and on impulse they clutched even tighter into one another.

In stepped the advisor who had been standing at the entrance of the church, and upon seeing the two handcuffed men in a very strange embrace in the body's holding room, it seemed to be too much for him.

His eyes rolled in the back of his head and he buckled to the floor, becoming unconscious from the effort of keeping his sanity in check. L stared. Why were people suddenly scared of him today?

"Is he going to be alright?" He muttered.

"I don't think so-" Light began, but upon realizing the awkward position they were in, he shoved the detective across the room and gave a disgusted snarl.

L, in turn, took the chance to right himself, and after a few moments they stumbled back out of the room as if nothing had ever occurred.

A moan was heard from the collapsed man, and with a look free from guilt, L shut the door with a soft click. He whistled between his teeth and casually shoved his hands in his pockets, leading Light away from the mess they had suddenly found themselves in.

:HeartBeats:

Amazingly enough, over a period of the next forty five minutes, the two men had managed to duck and weave out of sight of the orbiting woman.

It was during that time that the chapel was beginning to house more people than Light thought possible.

How many people were in debt to this woman anyway?

But as soon as the thought crossed his mind, the said crowd began to file through and make their way towards the aisles lining the church interior.

In a flash, Light found himself being pulled roughly in to sit amongst the front row next to L. Seated next to him was Matsuda, eyes filled with a grief that only a mourning son would know.

But, surprisingly, still no tears fell, yet the teen noticed how despite the rookie's rigid position, the Matsuda they knew was somewhere far away in a place inside his mind that no one on the outside could disturb.

The advisor that had passed out suddenly stepped onto the podium, a still dazed look about his features as he stood directly in front of the open lidded coffin that had been placed there for display.

"We are gathered here today to honour the memory of a beloved friend, mother and work colleague. Sen Matsuda has recently come to pass under the..."

And on the man's voice droned, perfectly trained to put up an act in defiance to commemorate the dead.

Light found himself immediately bothered. It was..._sick_, how one could sit so calmly and listen to a boring old prat preach on about God knows what while the corpse of someone you once knew and loved rotted away in a tightly fitted case one could hardly call for comfort.

He almost snorted. As if comfort mattered in the situation at hand.

That was when something even stranger came to mind.

What did the dead really think? Did they have the privilege to think at all in the afterlife?

Or were all religious beliefs proved false and the only thing one left truly behind was the rotting flesh of their former selves?

It was frightening; to think that there could be no afterlife. It was also frightening to think that there _could_ be.

For whatever one did in this life, was enough to thrust consequences on them if they were passing on into the next. The ordinal claim of an otherworldly heaven and hell existing was doubtful in itself. Was it really as simple as if one was good they would pass on into heaven, and if one sinned they'd be damned to hell?

_That was where Kira's divine judgement came in._

For the ultimate price of sin was death, and as such it would be a world of hell on earth. That left him to ponder. _Was Kira actually a god?_ Or a power hungry madman who only wanted to make himself known above all as _almighty?_

He blinked and had to grip his teeth to stop himself from making a sound of anger. There was no God. If there were, death wouldn't exist.

If there were_, Kira wouldn't exist._

_If there were, the world would be perfect already._

At this, Light's eyes diverted to the body of the woman lain in the coffin. Did Kira know what it was like to die? Did he even see his victims be murdered at his hand?

What did he think of the mercy that they held within their dying eyes as they were swallowed up by this so called justice? Did he consider the fear that the world was beginning to acknowledge?

Did Kira have fear himself?

_..._

_Did he fear death?_

At this, Light found he couldn't breathe. He began to take hasty, weak gasps of air, and he wiped away at the nervous sweat that was beginning to brim on his forehead.

It came as a sudden rush to him, this new fear. There was something so familiar about that thought...About the will of a murderer...But no matter what he tried to do, he couldn't recollect any sort of memory about this sort of emotion penetrating before.

He wasn't sure what to think. It was all so confusing..._But so familiar..._

That was when he heard a soothing voice whisper in his ear. "Light Kun?"

Without a second thought, he felt his hand, moving of its own accord, to shakily embrace L's own. The detective stiffened, from what he could feel, but nonetheless sped a calm outtake. Light's grip tightened as he tried to find the will to right himself, but the fear was becoming clearer.

He couldn't find the promise to meet the detective's eyes, because he felt that if he did he might break down then and there. It was an alien thing, this weakness against reason that had pitifully made its way into his heart.

He knew something was missing. _Something bigger than a memory._ Something..._he felt that he had to do._

"_Light_."

His heart began to pulse even harder as he felt L's fingers curl around his. He let loose another shaky breath to calm himself, before turning towards L and nodding ever so slightly as an indication that the detective could let go.

But this didn't seem to be, as the older man suddenly gave a seemingly reassuring squeeze, but from closer inspection the teen found that L's eyes were trained strictly to look ahead without the indication of actual emotion being present.

He felt amazed, but more of the fact that he immediately felt relaxed at the detective's sudden touch.

Out of concern for the two at that moment was Matsuda, who had been the only one in the chapel to notice the twos' very homosexually implied appeal to one another.

The rookie's eyebrow rose. There was always a suspicion,_ but could it be possible that Ryuzaki and Light...?_

However, his outtake changed as he saw L peer over Light's shoulder and give him a cold look. He gave a small cry of distress, before curling back up into his solemn and self-created ball of depression.

For a while they sat, simply acknowledging one another's touch as a simple matter.

But in that, strange theories had begun to weave into a web of connections inside their minds. Processing what this entire network meant between them was challenging in itself. So far, it almost as challenging as the story behind the Kira investigation.

_Was there anything between them?_

Of course. A rivalry unmatched by any other. L was one of the greatest authority figures this world had ever known, and Light Yagami was the biggest suspect in the Kira case. _Determined to the core to figure one another out, whether it be through any means possible._

_An emotional attachment?_ Such a thing was fake in this battle,_ this war_ for a cup that was already half empty.

Why find the need to destroy all that was broken in the first place? Why find it so fulfilling to empty out that cup that already had nothing inside? Because all that mattered was winning. All that mattered was beating one another at this trivial game.

Yet, in the end, all they would find was death waiting for them at the end of the road.

_All that awaited him was a broken heart._

_:HeartBeats:  
><em>

After a long progression, and a lot of sobbing from the participants, the crowd began to shuffle from the chapel, filing out into the graveyard so they could make their way towards the burial site.

To put it simply, L was..._no_. There was no way to put into words how the detective was feeling at that moment.

After all, before this entire charade with the handcuffs had begun, L's emotions tended to be distant and eroding. So, as it was expected, he didn't even know himself how he felt. All he was aware of was that he felt weak at the knees, and he somehow craved the warmth from the hand he had taken before.

His stomach felt tight, and he found it hard to focus on everything around, but nonetheless from years of practice he managed to retain a calm compromise.

_Dread, perhaps? No, such a thing was too chaotic..._

Nerves? But what did he..._Oh. Of course._

Light walked calmly beside him, programmed to remain still under the gift of perfection even after such a thing. What was he feeling at that very moment? Did he feel...similar, to what the detective was feeling right now?

_Fear...? No, that couldn't be right...Fear was cold, much colder..._

No form of communication was exchanged as they followed through a string of people and towards the far edge of the wide cemetery.

The rain that had fallen during the ceremony had relaxed to a quaint drizzle, and the audience gathered was lightly being dowsed in the haze. L shook his head, spraying ever so slightly the tiniest amount of droplets into the air, and a shudder wracked his body as he felt a small chill creep down his spine.

The shadows on the ground dispersed, revealing the reflection of the waking sun through the parting clouds above. Light blinked, and covered his eyes as a ray shone directly into his face, revealing the act of retaining a fake positive attitude through the will of defiance that stood in his way.

Pretty soon the audience had gathered around the burial mound, a negative vibration of sorrow emanating from each and every individual. The sound of wheels against dirt reached his ears, and Light turned briskly to see a shiny black car pulling up beside them.

Such a thing was ponderous, until he realized what it was for when the advisor stepped out and made his way to the back of the vehicle. When the back door opened, Light spotted the coffin neatly placed in the centre of the floor.

A few more people from the gathered crowd stepped forward to help the advisor as he hauled the luggage from the back with a groan. Even if it didn't look it, a human body plus the added weight of the coffin it was placed in was more than a single man could bear, obviously.

The coffin was hoisted above the shoulders of six men, including Matsuda who stood by the back, and the line began a steady march towards the grave where she was to be placed.

Such a scene nearly required the anticipation of added music, but being that this ceremony had all to do with reality, all that could be heard was the grim sound of the wind whistling through the trees above.

Silence seemed to be an ally in all of this, when suddenly a low but slow whisper could be heard. This whisper was broken into that of a sad melody as the solemn voice became louder and clearer.

Light went pale as the words transformed into lyrics, and those chosen lyrics became clear to him as the person sang;

_'Yesterday I died, tomorrow's bleeding._

_Fall into your sunlight._

_The future's opened wide, beyond believing. To know why, hope dies.'_

A chill went down the teen's spine as the carefully constructed song only added to the despair of the moment. The open will of singing had attracted attention, and one by one, people turned their hollow eyes to stare at the source.

_'Losing what was found, in a world so hollow, suspended in a compromise._

_The silence of the sound was soon to follow._

_Somehow, Sundown._

_And finding answers, is forgetting all of the questions we call upon._

_Passing the graves of the unknown.'_

There was only thing thing the teen could make from this. _Beautiful._

_But who...?_

'_This reason clouds my eyes, the splendour fading._

_Illusions of the sunlight. And the reflection of a lie, will keep me waiting._

_Love gone, for so long._

_And this day's ending, as the proof of time killing all the faith I know._

_Knowing that faith is all I hold.'_

And then Light knew. He turned his gaze to find himself staring into those familiar spine-tingling eyes, and picking up midway, he found himself singing along to the song of his own accord, his voice contrasting in harmony with the conjurer's.

_'And I've lost who I am, and I can't understand, why my heart is so broken, rejecting your love. Without, love gone wrong, lifeless words carry on._

_But I know, all I know, is that the end's beginning._

_Who I am, from the start, take me home to my heart. Let me go and I will run. I will not be silenced. All this time, spent in vain, wasted years, wasted gain._

_All is lost, hope remains and this war's not over._

_There's a light, there's the sun, taking all the shattered ones to the place we belong and His love will conquer.'_

The song eventually faded from between L's lips, and the detective looked up at Light with a burdened grimace. Everything was silent once more, but through it all not one person had missed a single note.

The entire crowd was staring, some with wonder, others with disgust, but most with a silent confusion riddling their features. Looking around nervously, L cleared his throat with a cough. It was almost as if they expected him to give an explanation for that sudden play of events.

For some reason, he found he couldn't. The simple fact was, was that L felt at that very moment that something needed to be said. Instead, as unusual as it was not only for him but in itself as a whole, his words had come out as a song.

It wasn't even the type of song he listened to on a daily basis, let alone for enjoyment.

Having a photographic memory, the world's greatest detective picked up everything around him, even the right down to the smallest detail. That's what being so meticulous was all about. With those small and unimportant things picked up with the rest of the world, he tended to shove whatever into the back of his mind, dismissing it enough to make him seemingly forget.

But forget he couldn't, as every single piece of information could be used as evidence, no matter how small or how unnecessary. This song, _Shattered_ he thought it was called, he remembered coming across it randomly one day while scanning a well-known video website.

It had been a few years back in a case where a computer hacker was illegally stealing money from different users through the produce of video making and deciphering. As complex as it was, the hacker had been doing so for several months before any trace of money being stolen had actually been acknowledged by those in power.

It seemed as if the perpetrator had all the equipment necessary to make his way through firewalls and all sorts of other technical security measures.

But in it all, he had the perfect cover. By hacking a simple user's account where this person posted nothing more than musical tributes and animations, the hacker had easily disabled his identity and framed it on the user behind the account.

Where had this song come in, then? Well, for a period of 74 hours, L himself had to watch every single musical tribute of this person's through and through, again and again, to see if he could pick up any trace of an IP address behind the making of a video.

One of the only videos that were made by the hacker was an uncanny and seemingly depressive forty second tribute about a specific romantic guise between two characters of an anime.

What made this uncanny was not the fact that the song _Shattered_ had been used for such a thing, but more the fact that the characters involved were both distinctively _male._

At the time, this didn't bother L whatsoever, since there was a many number of crazed fangirls on the internet who posted such things like that regularly. But at the thought now...Well, it was blatantly obvious.

The detective peered at the teen with squinted eyes, before twitching ever so slightly. Light blinked in stupidity. _What the hell was L getting at?_ Suddenly, out of nowhere, a croaky voice erupted through the air;

_"Dont worry! Be happy! Dooooont worry! Beeeee happy!"_

The entire crowd inclined towards where Matsuda now stood, his mother's coffin still heaved over one shoulder and a stupid but weary and nervous grin plastered on his face.

"U-Uhm...C'mon now! Everyone! Sing! Mom doesn't want you to cry at her funeral now, does she...?"

The crowd still stared, however their complexions twisting to a more dumbfounded state. Without any sort of warning, Light all of a sudden burst out laughing.

It wasn't meant to be a mocking gesture, no. It was simply hilarious at how ridiculous this all seemed. He gave a snort and keeled over, clutching his cramped stomach to try and stop the hysterics.

There was a stunned silence, until a hoarse chuckling could be heard from Aizawa, who had put a hand over his mouth to stifle the noise. A few giggles from the crowd came next, and a few more chuckles, and before everyone knew it, the area was filled with the sound of laughter.

L was one of the last to lose his resolve, snickering at the mean fact that everyone was laughing at a funeral. He gave a grin when he focused his gaze on Light, who's laughter seemed to light the area all around.

_Was it strange to say that he enjoyed the sound of the younger's laughter?_

Yes, it was. But it wasn't entirely unreasonable, right?

Clearing his throat, he skimmed the loud ocean of people, almost giving a loud hoot at the sight of Prudence, who had fallen to the ground under someone else's own fit and was desperately trying to get back on her feet in the same fashion a turtle would do if tipped back over on its shell.

He spotted the advisor, who was one of the only ones not laughing. He instead stood by, an annoyed twitch set into his features.

About to turn back around and bring Light to his senses, the detective immediately stopped when he locked eyes with a pair of dappled almond ones.

_Darker than her brother's, but clearly unmistakable._

Sayu stood, smack bang in the middle of the crowd, the same depressed look she had about her that morning still present.

This puzzled L. Out of everyone here, he expected the young girl to perhaps be laughing the loudest.

_But then why did she look so sad?_

She opened her lips as if to say something, and keenly L leant forward as if to absorb whatever information she was going to throw at him. But he missed the catch as the advisor's voice boomed out over the crowd through a microphone he seemed to have conjured from nowhere.

"That is enough! This is a funeral, people! Not a 60's hippie convention! Get a hold of yourselves!"

It took a moment or two, but eventually the clutter died down. Through it all, however, L never for a moment took his eyes from Sayu, who had turned her back to him to stare up at the funeral director.

L was sure she knew he was watching her. After all, the benevolence of obvious detection ran through the Yagamis. _Or so he thought._

_:HeartBeats:  
><em>

"This isn't cake. Honestly, it tastes like dirt folded over twice in horse manure."

"Obviously. The tag says it was made by Prudence, idiot."

The detective gagged and comically clutched at his throat, trying to regurgitate out the poison he had just ingested. This received a sly snicker from Light, and L peered up at the teen with distaste.

"I dare you to try it."

Light's eyes widened and he shook his head. "Ah, no. I'd rather keep my life, thanks."

L wiped his lips and sat up, making eye contact with the teen. "Well, there's a thought."

The teen was confused. "What?"

"Imagine if Prudence was Kira."

Light chuckled. "Yeah, she either sits on the criminals or poisons them with her fat-filled cakes. _The best kind of justice."_ He added sarcastically.

The detective tilted his head to the side. "How do you think Kira kills, Light-Kun?" He asked with a finger to his lips.

Light thought for a moment. "Well, isn't it obvious? He needs a name and a face, and we know he's able to control his victims before they die. But with the second Kira, all he needed to do was see a person's face and that was that. Why do you ask?"

The older man reached past the death cake and towards a bowl of sweets set near the edge of the table.

"I have a theory that I would like to share with you. In fact, I'm sure you've come to nearly the same conclusion as I."

Light sipped the cup of white wine he held in one hand. "Yeah?"

L popped a lemon drop into his mouth, sucking it delicately. "Well, it's not how Kira kills, but what exactly with."

Now, this was interesting. Light rested the cup down on the table, giving his full attention to the detective. "Go on." He said, not bothering to conceal the eagerness in his voice.

L smiled, a little flattered for the favouritism. "Well, if you add up all the obvious facts, the only thing left to work out is what Kira uses to kill. If he in fact uses some sort of supernatural force, say, a psychic connection, then when he passes the power onto another person it would be impossible to finish this case. However," The detective popped another sweet into his mouth. "Some things don't add up."

Light raised an eyebrow. "Like what?"

"Well, if the power is a psychic phenomenon, then the need to see both a name and a face is rather strange. I'm going to go ahead and use Misa as an example, since she is suspected of being the second Kira.

"Do you remember the time when we were at To-Oh University, and I came face to face with Misa? Well, considering since, at the time, she was the second Kira and you were the first-"

"_Ryuzaki_." Light warned.

"Stay with me here." He reassured. "Don't you think that I would have died right away? Knowing you as Kira, you would've wanted me dead."

Light rolled his eyes. "Ryuzaki, you're overlooking something. You're L, and if you mysteriously died in front of me, your biggest suspect, then this case would've already been solved. It doesn't prove the fact of how or what Kira kills with, so we're left at a disadvantage there."

L immediately looked disheartened. "My oh my, it seems as if my deduction is being outwitted by you once again."

The teen patted the older man on the shoulder. "Don't worry. I get where you were coming from. You thought it might've been a material object, and from obvious evidence it might've been something like a book or a secret weapon...?"

L blinked. "Imagine that. A book that can kill. No wonder children prefer video games nowadays."

Light took another sip of the strong tasting wine. "Hey, there's something I don't get about you."

The detective's attention was diverted from the bowl of sweets that were now balancing on his knees. "Excuse me?"

Light pressed forward, pulling his chair forward so he was sitting closer to L. At this, the detective became still, his eyes widening and his feet poised and ready to attack.

Light pushed his feet down, and stared at him. "Where'd you learn to sing like that...?"

The older man did not move, but nonetheless continued to stare at the younger with an owl like gaze. "...23 percent, Light-Kun."

Light gritted his teeth and clenched his eyes shut in annoyance, holding back his temper. He took another sip of wine and found himself becoming calm already.

"No, I mean, have you always been able to sing like that? And why that song?"

There was silence, except for the faint noise of chatter in the background. L blinked, before replying, "It's nothing, really. I just lower my voice and add a musical pitch. Might I ask why you ended up singing along with me? How do you even know that song?"

"What, _Trading Yesterday_? My mom's a huge fan. I know it's not really a Japanese band, but mom's always liked foreign music, so yeah. You know how mothers usually play music out loud when they're cleaning or something?"

L became silent, and Light became a little confused.

"What...is your mother like, Ryuzaki?"

L slowly rose to meet the teen's gaze, his black eyes penetrating. "I don't remember." He stated bluntly.

"Oh...I'm sorry."

L wiped his nose on his sleeve. "Don't be, it's not your fault, really. Is that wine?" He pointed to the clear cup in Light's hands.

The teen understood how awkward a subject that was, and went with the sudden change of flow L had presented and nodded. "Want some?" He asked.

The older man scrunched up his face in scrutiny. "I've never had alcohol before."

"Wait, really?"

The detective gave him a look of disbelief, and Light raised an eyebrow. "Right. Well, go ahead and try some."

"I don't really..."

"It'll be fine, I promise."

"Oh, alright." And as suddenly as that was said, L had snatched the drink from Light's hands and downed it in one mouthful.

It was the teen's turn to stare in disbelief, his jaw hung open slightly in surprise. "Wow." He commented as the detective slammed it back down onto the table with a sigh.

Wait for it...

L began to twitch violently, and shook his head in response to the first alcoholic vibe as it pulsed through his body. The sudden rush made him lurch forward in an effort to shake himself of the tight feeling in his throat, and Light had to stand up out of his chair in time to catch him.

He levered him back up, and brushed the his fringe away to get a better look at his face. "You okay?" He asked, unaware that for about the fiftieth time that day people had begun to stare.

"Wow indeed, Light-Kun..." L muttered, clutching at his head. He let out a small hiccup, before sticking his tongue out comically. "That tastes foul."

"Fouler than Prudence's cake?"

"Oh please."

After a few moments of keeping the detective on a straight angle, he rested him against the chair and sat back down in his own with a laugh.

After the funeral, the pair and most of the accompanying crowd had somehow wound up at Matsuda's parent's house for an 'afterparty'.

Despite the thick gloom in the air and the sound of low and depressing jazz music filtering into their ears, Light found it all to be quite casual.

He strained his neck around to scan the crowd, until he locked sharp gazes with Aizawa, who stood uncomfortably in a nearby corner.

Taking it as an invitation to come over, the afro-haired officer went to take a step, when a familiar voice reverberated through the air.

"Light, darling! Where have you been this entire time?"

Before he had the chance to react, his vision was obscured in the place of a flash of ghastly green, and he was suddenly swooped into a very tight and suffocating embrace.

L couldn't keep back a snicker as Prudence gave way and fell forward into the chair with Light mercilessly acting as a cushioning device for the overweight woman.

"M-M...Mer..._Mercy!_" The detective heard the teen gasp as he was swallowed up beneath the great beast.

As quickly as it had come however, what with the chair surprisingly only giving out a creak at the combined weight of the two, Prudence managed to stand back up on her stubby legs before planting a lipstick smeared peck on Light's pale cheek.

Lying awkwardly against the chair's surface, and with his legs half twisted over the floor, his eyes were wide with fright and L was sure he could see him shake ever so slightly.

Prudence, with a frown of negligence, bunch up a bear clawed fist against his shirt and pulled him to his feet, the chain clinking against the leg of the damaged chair.

With an eyebrow raised, she followed the length of the chain with her pitbull eyes and came to rest on the detective's hunched over form.

With a grunt, she let go of Light, (_he nearly sagged to the floor like dead weight_) and eyed L with scrutiny.

"Well well." Was all she said, pursuing her lips in a tight and fabled line, giving the dirtiest look she could muster.

L's face was as emotionless as ever. "Oh look, it's the Wicked Witch of the West. How very nice to see you again." He spoke calmly, not giving way under the fat woman's intimidation.

Prudence stood straight, all for the more leverage so her breasts wouldn't drop to the ground as easily as so. "You disgusting pig. I thought Light had enough dignity to ditch you where you stand. I'd honestly do such a thing if I was in his shoes." She sneered.

L remained still. "But it looks like your red ones are still missing. Are you too stupid to go looking or can't you see over the makeshift planet one would call your body? Oh that's right, _I went there_."

Light stared in amazement, slowly getting over his shock. _L was suddenly-_

"And if you didn't know, Light Kun has far more dignity than you ever will. Now, please go and find a treadmill, as your obesity is blocking my view of the other people."

Nothing more needed to be said, because as L went to stand, Prudence raised a hand, and after a whir of air, a loud smacking noise echoed all around.

But it didn't seem to be what one would perceive, as L only felt cold. Because a shadow had fallen across him in time when he had clenched his eyes shut, ready for the impact.

But when his vision became clear, the horrifying sight of Light standing in front of him, his head jerked to one side and his expression full of discreet pain, appeared before him.

With a foul scowl, Prudence wiped the hand down the side of her dress and trumped away, her fat muscles jiggling in response to the limp she had.

Light stood and flexed his jaw, rubbing his red and stinging cheek with the palm of his hand.

L had remained stiff, shock slowly enveloping his features. "Light...-" He begun.

"I'm fine." The teen grunted, not letting his angry gaze rise to meet the detective's.

The older man reached out with trembling fingers. "But-"

"_I said I'm fine_!" Light snarled, spinning on his heel and facing L with a glare.

However, without a moment's hesitation, and ignoring the teen's angry outburst, L's hand found itself to rest on the teen's own, covering the blotchiness that had begun to form on the cheek.

At first, Light tried to shake him away, but L grabbed at his other wrist and held it in place, never taking his eyes from the teen's face.

"Why would you do that?" He asked in a low tone, ignoring the fact that annoyingly people's eyes were on them again.

At first, the teen didn't answer, but when L gave him a reassuring shake, he muttered, "She's just a bitch...and-"

"Yes?"

"You didn't deserve it."

L stepped back, his hand falling to his side.

_What did that mean? Was it a remnant from the real truth of it all?_

He didn't deserve it. Of course not, but who would?

Was that why Light jumped in front of him? Was it that maybe Light was Kira, was guilty, but couldn't confess directly?

...No. The Kira he knew would try and remain as secretive as he could. He would keep his actual identity hidden, no matter what.

_Then..._

The teen wiped the edge of his lip and straightened his jacket, blinking a couple of times to clear his head of his slowly rising anger.

"Stupid cow actually packs a punch." He grimaced and without turning to L, said, "Why don't we go and pay respects in the next room, Ryuzaki? I'm sure it'd make Matsuda happy."

Without the inquiring task of asking if the teen wanted a packet of cold peas to place against his cheek, he followed without any questions asked. Light strode past Aizawa, who still stood stunned, and L glided behind, giving the man an unidentifiable look before disappearing out of the room entirely.

Stepping past Mogi, who was silently making for the door to leave, Light found himself in a wide room, most of the space taken up by a double sided bed set square in the middle.

On a mantle set above the floor, a single candle burned, and behind the source of light the shadows flickered around the portrait of Matsuda's mother.

Bearing a warm smile and a rosy complexion, one found it hard to think that at that very moment she was buried six feet beneath the ground, as cold as night and dead as bone.

Light picked up an incense stick from a pile on the bedside table, and put the end through the flame of the candle. It let off the subtle scent of lilies, and dragging the small wisp of smoke through the air, he set it down calmly on an incense rack to burn beside many others.

He bowed his head in respect and stood back to allow L to do the same.

As the detective was burning the end of his own stick, and staring at the flame intently, a rustling noise caused them to turn and they found Matsuda had made his way into the room noisily.

The rookie looked as if he had been crying, his cheeks tearstained and his eyes blotchy, and he rose his head with the added recognition of misery.

At once his eyes widened at the sight of L and Light, and he asked with a sigh, "What're you guys...?"

But after a moment he trailed off, and he fell to his knees onto the bed on the ground, his head hung limp and a sob wracking his body.

Immediately Light bent down and rubbed his workmate's shoulder reassuringly, and L placed the stick on the rack directly next to Lights.

"It's not fair...She was never a bad person..." He whispered, clenching his hands into fists.

"I know." Light replied, still rubbing his shoulder.

Matsuda turned slowly to stare at Light, then at L, who stood a few feet away rather awkwardly.

He sniffed, and wiped away the beginning of another flood of tears.

"So, what are you going to do now?" L asked bluntly, unamused at the sudden explosion of waterworks from his underling, despite that they were in fact attending the memorial for his deceased mother.

Matsuda looked up with watery eyes and a gurgled expression. There was a minute of remote silence, until the rookie cleared his throat and stood to his feet, wiping at his face with an already sodden sleeve.

He took one step towards L, who in turn became completely rigid, and placed a hand on his shoulder.

_What the hell was Matsuda...?_

"Ryuzaki." He begun with a look of determination that left L even more perplexed.

"Even after this...I want to continue catching Kira. I won't let something like this stop me. I promise."

L let out a small sigh of relief. For a moment, it seemed as if Matsuda was going to confess his undying love for the older man or something...

The notion of it, though..._Very disturbing._

Light smiled. "Welcome back Matsuda." He said. "Welcome back."

* * *

><p><strong>So, do you guys like? A VERY VERY HUGE CHAPTER, I KNOW! 0-0<strong>

**R&R? AND NO FLAMES PLZ. Constructive Criticism would be nice as well ^^**


	11. Chapter 11: Friendship

**AN: I love long car drives :D They always, strangely, give me a sense of peace. I remember when moving house we were supposed to drive in the car for only a period of six hours, depending on how traffic usually went, to the place where we were going to stay. However, we broke down on the side of the road and had to wait an extra 3 hours for my friend's dad to come up and help us with the repairs. HOWEVER, it turned out the bearings on the trailer carrying our boat (which held most of our necessary things) had nearly completely disintegrated, so we spent the next 4 hours literally scraping our way through and barely making it to our new house (we had to order a new trailer) and every time we drove I had my fish (he's called Matsuda, btw ;D) spilling water from his fishbowl all over my lap. **

**Yeah, not fun. We had to cover the top of his bowl with a nappy (only thing in reach) to stop him from flooding the whole entire car. (I smelt like fish vomit afterwards though) DX**

**But that was the only thing I didn't like. What I did love was the endless plains rolling out in the distance and the wind on my face when I stuck my head out the window :D**

**Too bad L doesn't like cars. No wonder Watari does all the driving :P**

**Okay, this chapter is dedicated to said fish Matsuda. (He deserves a little love), and to all my lovely reviewers and readers. YOU ROCK :3**

**Also, I'm so sorry for the delay. Work has been a major pain in the ass, and I just spent two hours finalizing everything. That's why the ending of this may seem just a little bit rushed. I'm so sorry for that XD**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except for the story :3 (Oh, and I own the human Matsuda as well. He's chained up with L and Light in my basement and ordered to wrestle in jelly whenever I feel bored. I also have Mikami and Soichiro hugging like a bunch of wierdos and Misa is my pet dog :P)**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 11, Friendship<strong>

"Wake up, Light-Kun…"

"Nnngh…"

"Wake…uuuuup." As soon as he heard the purr of L's voice thick in his ear, he opened his eyes wearily. "Go away…" He moaned groggily, flailing out his hand in annoyance. L, however, who was crouched directly over him in an awkward position, his feet planted on either side of the teen's body, grimaced and leant forward until he was just inches from the teen's face.

"Now." He demanded, pinching shut the teen's nose between two fingers. With a start, Light opened his eyes in response to lack of oxygen, and swatted the detective away with a growl. L rolled to one side, landing on the mattress next to Light, causing it to creak in response.

His hair was spread out delicately around his scalp, seemingly emphasising the apparent need to look as innocent as possible. Blinking wide eyes, the detective prodded Light's foot playfully with a toe. The younger of the two groaned and turned away, curling up into a tight ball.

Now getting a little more than annoyed, and fed up with being gentle, L deviously sat up and ran his hand along the spherical shape the teen had made himself into. Finding a mound that caused the ball to fidget a little, L took a deep breath and pinched roughly with a thumb and forefinger along the surface.

"Ow!" Light hissed, sitting up with a start. "Why the hell did you just…pinch my ass?" He spat. L shrugged. "Since Miku-Chan unconventionally had to go away for repairs after you managed the feat of throwing her across the room the other day, you've refused to rouse at the normal time. We can't have you being lazy now, can we, when Kira is somewhere out in the world right now, creating havoc and defying the law."

"But why my..."

"Believe me, I tried to be gentle. But I needed to wake you in a hurry, since I have some urgent news to share."

Knowing the detective nowadays, it was normally something of sheer unimportance, usually regarding unusual facts about food or information about the next activity they were going to participate in.

What L said next surprised him.

"Kira is on the move again. A month's worth of criminals were all murdered in one night."

Light's eyes widened. "Wait…Seriously?"

L nodded. "This is a sudden change, since the current Kira seemed to be slow in his killings…"

The teen was already on his feet, dashing around the room frantically and searching for the right clothes to wear. "Why do you think he suddenly sped up?" He asked with a huff.

"I'm not quite sure, but perhaps it may have something to do with the weather…?"

Light stopped in his tracks. "Weather?" He inquired, dumbfounded.

"Yes. In a few days, it will be the beginning of winter, you know."

"So? As if that would affect anything."

"You never know."

Hurriedly walking down the hall and towards the bathroom, Light found it odd how abstract the theory of the weather affecting Kira was. It wasn't like L to come to a conclusion that…_simple._

_There was something else…_

He spun on his heel and faced the detective, who stopped in his tracks, surprised. "What do you have planned, Ryuzaki." He asked with a sigh, bracing himself fi=or whatever insane idea that the older man was going to say.

"Ah, you are very inquisitive. But since you asked so nicely, I have planned ahead this time. Tell me, do you like camping?"

"Huh? No, not re-"

"Naturally, you have no say in such a thing, so get your ranger's attitude into gear, soldier! We are going camping tomorrow!"

The notion was as ridiculous as it sounded. The entire Taskforce team were going to spend the next three days camping out in the wilderness about three hours from the city.

What was even sillier was the fact that L wanted to go camping. The detective, who wouldn't spend more than a day, let alone a few nights, out in the middle of nowhere with nothing really to do except enjoy the natural world as it came…The idea was very unusual indeed.

Then why was he going along with such a plan?

Well, without the detective directly hinting towards anything, Light remembered that the first person he had informed after the teen had in fact been Matsuda.

Now, without a keen eye and sense of attitude, any normal person would see this small action as an act of informing another. Now, it would very much be a lie to state that Light knew L like the back of his hand, but even he didn't miss the inclined rush in L's voice as he addressed the rookie, "We are going camping tomorrow, together as a group. How _exciting._"

The teen found that he couldn't pick up any sarcasm from L, and Matsuda replied with shiny eyes, "Ooh! Really? I love camping! Back in college, I was really into that sort of stuff, you know."

"I know." L had simply stated before turning back to his beckoning computer with a blank expression. Leaving the two of them perplexed, Light wrinkled his nose. It had almost seemed like the detective knew that Matsuda liked camping.

Even so, where would that lead?

_Then it all clicked._

With a grin, the teen realized that, in his own twisted little way, the detective was trying to be _nice_ to Matsuda. After the funeral only a few days ago, it was hard to come to any other conclusion, even if it was as unlikely as the idea of a pig having wings.

_Pffft, the image of a pig reminded him of Prudence._

"What are you gawking at? Honestly, Light-kun, sometimes I find it unnerving that you tend to stare at me longer then the duration normal people tend to take."

_Sometimes…? What…?_

"I wasn't staring at you!"

"Mhmm. Now, could you do something useful and help me load the car? We are going to need to be properly equipped if we are to spend the next few nights stranded out in the middle of nowhere."

Gritting his teeth and rolling up his sleeves, he picked up the same icebox that L had used on the day they had gone to the beach, and shoved it through the back compartment of the car.

"Tell me why we're taking Matusda's car again?"

L furrowed his brow. "While attending the funeral, it seems as if the limousine was crudely sabotaged by god knows _what. _I think it may have been delinquents, but aside from that it has gone from repairs."

Light nodded. "Ahuh, and why is Matsuda travelling with us, exactly?"

"Oh, we need someone to drive, and to mention once again, Light-Kun, that this is in fact his car."

With a grunt, Light pushed a pile of sleeping bags towards the back of the compartment to make room for a large pink blanket to burrow its way in. L put a finger to his lips in silent thought, and comically tipped his head on an angle, muttering inwardly to himself. He then proceeded to make a square shape with his hands, and with a nod stepped forward and began to unpack the car.

Light, who was watching with interest, snapped out of his stupor and cried, "Hey! What the hell are you doing?"

L stopped midway of unpacking the tent, and stared at the teen with a hardened look. "Honestly, the car is too full. We have to consider the dimensions and start again."

"It's fine! Just leave it!"

"Light-Kun." L begun, sending chills down the younger's spine. "Have you seen the state of this car?" Light gave the rundown another look, before pouting slightly, knowing what was to come. "Yeah…" He muttered.

L rolled his eyes. "Exactly. Now, I'll ask for the third time that you don't stare at me, and that you should help. Agreed?"

So, for the remainder of the morning, L and Light spent their time devising strategies to make everything fit without the car buckling under all the weight. In the end, they fruitfully managed, with the exception of the icebox, a small stereo, canoe paddles, an inner tube, an inflatable mattress, a camera tripod and stand, a dozen or so books and a collection of assorted plushies.

Light wiped the sweat from his brow and sipped from his cup of stale coffee. "Hey, why couldn't Watari help us?"

L, who was crouched on the ground, examining a dinosaur plush doll, stood and faced the teen on an angle. "Have you no respect for the elderly, Light-Kun?"

The teen raised an eyebrow. "Speaking of Watari…Where is he right now? I haven't seen him all morning."

"I sent him out on important business before I woke you. Now, are you ready to depart?"

Light nearly choked on his coffee. "Wait! I'm covered in my own sweat from having to do most of the packing, you know. Let me take a shower or something, and I don't think I've even packed my own bag yet…"

L bobbed his head, waving a hand like it meant nothing. "You need not worry, really. I sent Matsuda to pack your things for you."

"You let him in our room!"

The older man blinked in response. "Yes. And do not worry about pride in taking a shower at this very moment. We are going to live like hermits starting from today, no?"

_.:HeartBeats:._

But much to L's compromise, the hygienic teen managed to take his shower before they had taken to a leave. With the added buzz of pop music whispering in the background, they were now cruising down the road at a rather slow pace, the engine humming in accordance to the tires as they skid across the gravel.

"Oh, isn't this great, guys? Just the three of us, you know? Three people to make up three hours of otherwise boredom, right? Isn't it exciting?"

L resisted the _urge_ to open the door and roll out while they were still driving. Instead, he pressed the chain of the handcuffs between his fingers and gritted his teeth, reminding himself that it was _only_ three hours of this, and that he was handcuffed to Light every single day, so it shouldn't have bothered him.

"You're right, Matsuda. There isn't anything else we'd like more in the world, right Ryuzaki?" Light eyed L with a glare, and the detective gave a shrug before continueing to stare at the city as it slowly dwindled out of view.

The rookie nodded, and replied with a wide and cheerful grin, "I haven't had much free time ever since I started working on the Kira case, you know. So this is a real treat. Yeah…"

He trailed off and begun drumming his fingers along the steering wheel to the beat of the song. L, who was seated next to light, wryly turned his head to stare at the teen. However, the auburn haired boy had shoved a pair of headphones into his ears, and was nodding his head in response to the silent tune.

Blinking slightly, he looked up at L, and gave him an expression that read, '_Your fault for such a stupid idea. You pay the price.'._

The detective glared at the teen, before yanking away the white headphones roughly, and said, "You really should stop being so antisocial, Light-Kun. We are all in this car together, and as such should cherish the precious time we have with one another."

"_Don't_ touch my headphones."

L narrowed his eyes and tried to snatch the entire device from Light's hands. "Try and stop me." This caused an inherent spark of familiar annoyance to run through his body, and he took the challenge at full value. With a grunt he tried to shove the crouched detective to the other side of the backseat, but L was craftier.

He dodged the younger's hands, and poked his own fingers into Light's eyes, knowing how much this would aggravate him further. Light growled in annoyance, and tried to blink the pain away.

"Asshole." He hissed through his gritted teeth, and gave the older man a vile glare. When L stuck out his tongue childishly, however, Light's irritation reached a peaking point.

He leant over and pulled the older man's raven hair with a snarl. L's silly expression turned to one of distress as he tried to pull away, however his actions only succeeding in provoking Light's retaliation more. Hastily deciding to push the detective to the ground of the car, he was interrupted as Matsuda cried, "Hey, Hey! _Stop_ that, you two!"

That was when the rookie decided to intervene, and leaned over the front seat to try and smack the two men away from one another. However, every logical thought was disregarded as Matsuda momentarily forgot that he was driving the car, and because of that the vehicle began to swerve to the side of the road.

L gurgled out a response as his distress almost reached its limit, and Matsuda immediately took up position of driver once more, and soon their ride was back to being smooth.

There was still a venomous tension in in the air when Matsuda all of a sudden said, "You guys are like an old married couple or something." This caused the tension to maximise, and both L and Light went extremely pale. There was a moment's silence, when Matsuda continued, "Have you guys ever thought about marriage?"

L and Light broke out into garbled responses, until L caused the teen to silence as he said, "What are you implying, Matsuda?"

The rookie suddenly felt nervous at the tone of his boss's voice. "Is…Is that…?"

"I asked a very simple question, you know. If you don't answer, I have the authority to turn this vehicle around right and now and you can forget all about this camping trip."

"U-Uhm…I meant, would you guys like to settle down one day…? Maybe have a few kids, get a pretty girl…But Light already has Misa-Misa, so that isn't a problem for-"

"No, Matsuda. I prefer things the way they are, without the existence of Kira, of course. The world, and my life in general, could do better without."

That was an indication that all conversation regarding the subject was to be closed, and as such, silence with the added buzz of another J-Pop single playing in the background, was the only thing to be heard.

But as quiet as it had become, Light's thoughts were like a constant ringing in his head that never stopped.

L. What he said…_Was it true?_ Did he think the world would be better off without Kira?

Of course it was, in most cases. But generally speaking, when someone was talking about elimination, death seemed to be the only thing that fit that title.

The annihilation of Kira…_The taking of human lives_…Wasn't that exactly what Kira stood against in some aspects…?

Then whoever took Kira's own life…Was that an act of justice in its own right? Or was it just the same as cold blooded manslaughter?

And then suddenly, the memories of the time when L had stabbed Light with the scissors came to mind, and out of instinct, the teen reached up to caress his scarred shoulder.

This action caused L to turn his shadowy stare towards the teen.

"Light-Kun?"

_.:HeartBeats:._

"_Eeeveerrryyyyy time you like awaaayyyy, I slowly diiiiieee inssiiiiiddddeeeee!" _Matsuda's light hearted voice could be heard over the hum of the radiator as the car continued along at a steady pace.

For the last half hour, a silent awkwardness had begun to slowly build, enough that it was driving the three of them insane. But as agonizing as it was, L and Light had the composure to remain as subtle as they could. However, such a feat couldn't be handled by the third wheel of the troupe, and so, to ease his own boredom, Matsuda had broken out into song;

"_And theeeennnn I seeee…What you mean to MEEEEEE-"_

"MATSUDA! SHUT UP!" L and Light shouted in unison, their combined patience finally wearing thin. The shocked rookie closed his mouth with a whimper, and reached to turn the knob of the volume to the stereo down.

The music now at a minimum, Light realized how hard his heart was beating within his chest. Gritting his teeth and breathing deeply to still his anger, he was almost surprised to feel something press against his chest.

Opening his eyes, he was also slightly disturbed to find that L was the one who had placed his hand so it was spread out over the teen's chest. The detective turned his head in interest, muttered something inaudible, and pulled away, curling his knuckles atop his knees once more.

However, the pace of Light's heartbeat had only increased at the sudden contact, but as soon as he was free of such a thing, he found it _ached_ ever so slightly for the detective's touch once more.

Scowling, he went to focus his gaze out the window, when Matsuda said, "Hey, do you guys think that my singing is-"

"Don't care." The two uttered in sync again, their attention focused on deeper matters that didn't concern the rookie's superstar ideals. Matsuda slumped in his chair slightly, and decided to busy himself by distancing his thoughts and motives of contact from the other two by training his eyes on the road ahead.

The car was silent once more, and the music that was barely above a static buzz in the background threatened to drive Light to the border. He gritted his teeth and coughed inwardly, his annoyance building as the knowledge that his boredom suppressor was now in L's grasp. His beloved version 3 IPod Touch, what with a multitude of entertaining applications and library of J-Pop music, was supposed to have stilled his mood for the next 3 agonizing hours.

_But no_. Of course L had to just spoil his mood and plans, just like he did every other day of his goddamn life. He tilted his head slightly upwards to focus his gaze on the raven-headed man, and swallowed the sudden rush of excitement that surged through his chest.

L's own look was bright as he stared at the passing scenery, his eyes darting back and forth as he took in the detail around. As meticulous as it seemed, Light knew the detective's thoughts were elsewhere. After all, the guy didn't stop thinking. He would turn things over and over in his head until he finally came up with-

"Light-Kun, why are you staring at me?"

_Damn._

"I wasn't staring at you." He retorted. L tilted his head to the side in a rather…_cute_ way and his eyes widened slightly. "Yes, you were."

Light could feel his cheeks heat up and he bit his lip. "You can't prove it."

"…Actually, you're right, unless…Matsuda! Was-"

"Don't care." Matsuda muttered, hunched over depressingly and gripping the steering wheel hard, his knuckles turning a pearly white. L twitched a little in surprise, before turning back to look out his window once more.

To say at the least, L was _bored_.

Even with the company of two, he still couldn't stand the awkward tension that was slowly simmering between them all. Looking around the car, and dismissing Light as the closest thing to still away his boredom, he finally noticed the switch on the door beside him that was used to control the window. With his interest peaking, he flicked it with a steady finger.

Vvvvvvvvvvvvvvv.

The window slid down with ease, and L was met with a rush of cool air that pelted against his face with intensity. His eyes shut on instinct, and he leant backwards, evading the direction it was coming from.

"Hmm…" He mused, before angling back up on his feet again and leaning his entire head out of the window, the air slicing at him in waves. His face stinging, he was suddenly pulled back into the car roughly.

"What the hell are you doing!" He heard Light shout over the noise. L shook his head, his hair standing on end, and looked up at the teen, who was looking down at him with a mixture of disbelief and annoyance.

"I-" But he was interrupted by the sound of a wailing siren that echoed in the distance behind them. Looking in the rear-view mirror, L's stomach suddenly dropped as he spotted a pair of flashing red and blue lights.

"Aww shit!" They heard Matsuda cry, and with his outburst the rookie pulled over onto the side of the road, giving way to a few more vehicles that streamed past them in a blur.

L sunk low in his seat. Not had he ever had a run in with the police before. Hell, he practically controlled the law enforcing system. But now, without Watari to confirm his identity and a computer to hide behind, he was just another person who was as caught out in the open as a deer in the headlights of a car.

They heard a door slam shut behind them, and a tall man wearing an officer's uniform made his way around their vehicle, until coming to a stop at the driver's seat window.

The officer, whose eyes were hidden behind a pair of sunglasses, gave a snort and waggled his finger, inquiring to Matsuda to roll down his window. The rookie, his face pale and his figure stiff, shakily pressed the nearby button in a fashion similar to how L had done so before, and his own window rolled down smoothly.

"This your vehicle?" The prosecutor's accent was thick and a little rough-edged, suggesting that he may not very well be of Japanese ethnicity. A small sheen of sweat could be seen trailing along Matsuda's brow, and he swallowed his fear before nodding sheepishly.

The foreign policeman clicked his knuckles, causing the rookie to sink a little back in his seat and Light to tense just a little, and replied, "These men in the back of the car. You related?"

"I-I-I…"

"Spit it out before I make you."

"Excuse me, officer? I believe that a direct threat like that is a violation of the law. Determining that you're an enforcer of said law, I advise you that such action is inappropriate with your title."

Everyone turned to face L, who was squatting calmly in the back seat, his dark gaze trained only on the centre of the policeman's face. Light blinked looked back at the officer, who appeared just as stunned as Matsuda.

There was a strained silence, during which the officer was having trouble coming up with a direct response, but before anything could be said, L continued, "And no, we aren't related. But before you come up with another reason to try and use the intimidation that you think applies to your title, I will confess that I was the one who stuck my head out the window."

The officer seemed to have recovered, and as he went to say something, L interrupted yet again, "But under subsection C, Section 9 of the Laws of the Japanese Road guide, you are expected to just give us a warning then let us go on our way, no?"

Suddenly, Light knew what L was trying to achieve. The detective had picked up on the foreign nationality of the law enforcer, and judging by his attitude, he was hanging on the theory that intimidation was the key aspect in the way he worked. Hailing from another country, maybe his studies when he was attending law school would be hindered slightly.

The rule that L had just spoken of was false. A lie that the detective was hoping would get them through. He was going on nothing more than the judging of character from this guy that may very well be false. There was a 50/50 chance that they would end up in jail if the officer were to see through this act.

Light gritted his teeth and remained still, anxiety pumping through his blood. _Oh god…Oh geez…_

"…How do you know so much about the law?" The policeman finally said.

"I went to Law school, just like you. In fact, I'm a member of the NPA. We all are." This was when L fumbled with something in his pocket, before pulling out a leather branded card holder, and he flipped it open to reveal an attached ID inside.

Light gawked open his mouth in surprise, and just as well the officer raised his own eyebrows in speculation, muttering, "Rue Ryuzaki…" beneath his breath. Matsuda was still sitting rigid in his chair, before he too span around in his seat, presenting his own fake ID in front of him.

There was another stilled silence, until the officer finally said, "What about him?"

It took Light a moment to realize that everyone's gaze was focussed on him, and he sheepishly ran a hand through his hair, before realizing that he was the only one who hadn't been presented with a fake ID, unlike the rest of the Taskforce members who were given theirs before Light ever got involved with the Kira investigation.

"Here." He heard L croon, before turning to see the detective presenting one more of the leather holders to the officer. Suddenly, the officer seemed to stifle back a chuckle, before giving Light a look that almost read 'are-you-serious?' When L arched his eyebrows ever so slightly, however, the officer stepped back with a laugh, muttering something like, "How ridiculous…", before nodding his head at them in satisfaction.

"Fine. I believe you. Now, get going, before I change my mind."

Matsuda gave a sigh of relief, before swerving off the side of the road and speeding off onto the highway, being careful not to go over the limit. As Light watched from the rear-view mirror as the police car sped away into the distance, his attention focussed back onto L, who was looking at the passing scenery quietly.

At first he didn't know what to say, before he cleared his throat and managed to find his voice. "How did…?"

"I always come prepared, Light-Kun. Even for you."

That was when the teen remembered the policeman's look before he had gone away, and he narrowed his eyes at the older man, carefully asking, "Ryuzaki…? What does my name read on the ID?"

L blinked, going stiff slightly, before relaxing and looking calmly at Light, tilting his head slightly to imply that he was confused. But Light knew that he had finally cornered the detective.

"Ryuzaki…?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

Light groaned, rubbing his temples to steady his temper, before biting back a cold remark and saying, "I'm guessing that it's something stupid…?"

"I won't repeat myself. I have no idea what you're talking about."

They drove on without another word for a while, passing by numerous road signs, road kill and nothing else for miles. Light was lost deeply, in thought, and in the worry of what his name might actually say on the ID L now kept in his pocket, while L was merely trying to pass the time by recounting over the facts they already had at hand about the Kira investigation.

He knew it was dangerous for him to keep an ID on him with a photograph of himself, especially with Light around, but he didn't have any other choice. He was careful in the way he handled things, and he had gone through various precautions beforehand to make sure it wouldn't be lead astray.

But even with these precautions, he was still at risk of-

_Brsssh…_

"What on earth was _that?_" L stated promptly, his eyes widening in response to the sudden noise.

_Ka-CHHHHH-…_

"And _that?_" Light summarized the detective's earlier sentence and sat up in his chair, eyeing Matsuda with confusion.

But the rookie seemed unfazed. He continued to drive on with ease, smiling back at the other two through the rear-view mirror. "Don't worry, she always does that."

"_She?"_ L's tone was a little dry. Was there someone (or _something_) else in this car with them?

"Yeah. But don't worry, we'll make it. I've had this baby for years now, and she's never let me down."

It took a moment for L to realize Matsuda was actually talking about the _car_, and he cleared his throat in response. "Ah…Well, when it's making that noise, I fear for the worst."

Matsuda flashed a grin. "Don't worry, Ryuzaki. I told you, she won't-"

However, he found that his words had contradicted themselves as the engine gave off another faint splutter, and just as they were banking a rise in the road, they suddenly came to a slow and agonizing stop.

L began to panic. Oh god, they had just broken down…Oh geez, they were stranded…

"Heh…Don't worry guys. I got this." Matsuda's face betrayed his calm and steady outtake, and he crawled out of the car, before lifting up the hood with a start. His expression turned from bad to worse as he realized he was taking in more than he could give.

Light checked his watch. It read, _3:35pm._ The teen sighed and sunk back down into his seat, closing his eyes in frustration. What had he done to deserve this?

He was then roused as Matsuda tapped his window, and then jerked his thumb back at the engine, implying that the teen was to help him. Light groaned and straightened up, before opening the car door and pulling out L behind him with a sharp tug.

The detective was met with a blast of chilly air, and stumbled slightly as his bare feet scuffed along the gravel of the road. He hissed a little in pain, but was ignored as Light brought his attention to the grey mess in front of him.

The engine was a whir of steaming pipes and screws, and he had to cover his mouth with his hand as a strange sort of singeing scent burned its way into his nostrils. He coughed to clear his throat, before leaning in and examining the engine with a furrowed brow.

L watched in keen interest when Light swore as he skimmed through the nooks and crannies while Matsuda held the hood high above his head. A minute or two passed, before Light shook his head, pulling away with grease smeared across his cheeks.

He wiped his fingers on the edge of his jacket, before saying, "Its dead. I think the engine ended up overheating…How old is this piece of junk, anyway?"

"Uh-Uhm…I don't actually know…I got her back in '97 though, so…"

L wasn't paying attention, however, as he too was busy looking up at the sky. He remembered this morning it had been unusually bright and sunny for a late autumn day, but as time passed by, he had failed to notice the sky had been spread over with a sheet of dark and gloomy grey.

L could taste the moisture in the air, even when it hadn't begun to fall, and to confirm his thoughts, he heard a loud rumble of thunder in the near distance. Matsuda reacted as well with a start, uttering a small whine at the noise.

"I think it's going to rain tonight…" L muttered, a distant tone echoing in his voice. A small blast of air brushed past, causing the detective to narrow his eyes, and then something small and wet dropped onto his nose.

As if the heavens had heard his call, water began to pour from the sky. At first it was small, and little more than a drizzle, then it fell harder as the skies became darker.

The three men, before they could become drenched, hurried to the car, pulling themselves inside and slammed the door behind them.

"Well…We're fucked." Was all L heard Light say.

_.:HeartBeats:._

The only sound to be heard was the crashing echoes of the storm raging against the car on the outside. The windows had turned misty from the condensation the water had brought, and to amuse himself, L was drawing swirly patterns with the tip of his spidery finger on the glass surface.

His breath came out in foggy rasps, and in reaction to the slowly dropping temperature, the detective's body had begun to shake violently in an attempt to keep his seemingly frozen blood pumping around his system.

His pale features now shone with a hue of blue that seemed to flow in the greying shadows that had followed with the storm. He turned to stare at his shattered and cloudy reflection in the window and found that he could barely make out his more disfigured-than-usual features, no matter how hard he focussed.

Sighing and drawing another cold breath, he turned to stare at his accomplices that were obviously dealing with the cold better than he. Matsuda was curled up in the front seat, donned in a very fluffy jacket that he had claimed to have won at a fun-fare a few years back. Why he had brought such an absurd piece of clothing was beyond the twenty four year old, and he managed to p[eel his eyes from the sight of Matsuda's sleeping features until his obsidian gaze was resting on the figure of Light.

The teen was curled up on the opposite end of the seat, almost innocently, and covered in the large pink blanket they had specifically brought for the destination ahead. That was, if they in fact made it there in the first place. Why on _earth_ he had even considered, let alone taken up the responsibility of letting them travel in Matsuda's car to the campsite made L want to throw himself out into the rain right then and there.

He knew that he could've just as easily rented them a car that actually _had_ central heating, but _no._ The one time he had actually tried to be nice in the face of reality, and the odds had turned against him.

Cursing comically, and slamming his fist into the back of the front seat in front of him, he heard a small and almost inaudible voice whisper, "R..Ryu…zaki…?"

At first, the boy took it as the sleeping boy's musings, and for a moment he was thoroughly confused, until he heard a ruffling noise next to him and felt a steady being placed on his shoulder. "_Fuck…_You're like an icecube…" Light's voice was barely more than a whisper.

L raised an eyebrow and whispered back, "Well, aren't you nice. My personality shouldn't have to be the butt of your crude jokes."

He could hear the teen yawn as the hand was removed, and then Light said, "I meant your temperature, dumbass. You must be freezing…"

"I am fine." L said none too convincingly, his body still shaking and aching for the sudden, if small, amount of warmth the hand had provided. "No you're not. Do you want the blanket?"

L craned his neck, hearing a crack as his aching muscles began to stretch along with his response. "No, I am fine. You need it more than I."

Was he being nice? Or was it all a matter of pride? _Damn._ Maybe this is why L had fallen victim to the many occurrences that tended to dominate his usual out-of-the-box aspect towards life in general.

Light was getting the better of him. But so was the overwhelming urge to feel sympathy towards those in need. Of course, for most, it was natural to feel any sort of sentiment in those properly given situations where one would help someone else who may have been distressed or at least very upset.

He obviously knew that, worldwide, he had been the greatest enforcer of justice before Kira had come from the shadows to challenge his carefully gathered authority. And he also knew that there were those who didn't envision him as saviour, pertaining to the rumours that he only ever took up a case if he had a direct interest in it.

As unfortunate as he saw it now, the latter had turned out to be very much true. Of course it made him selfish, but it was all he had ever known. Being perceived as selfish while under the title of world's greatest detective hadn't bothered him at all.

_Until now._

It was very complex; this new complex, but L wasn't oblivious to the facts at hand. The need to become unselfish had stemmed from the unsteady ties he had unnaturally fastened with the people around him that he had to acknowledge when taking this case to mind.

There was a multitude of feelings and considerations he had to take into check when being around people out in the open. He wasn't sure why he had changed his perception on those around him. Of course, he had never contacted anyone face to face before, with the exception being Watari and one or two of his successors, so perhaps that was something tangible he could add to make up the bigger picture.

Dual, there were two clear questions that had to be considered in the face of this subject.

One, he had to be nice due to courtesy and the preparation of luring his underlings into a false sense of played 'respect' to get to the desired destination of catching Kira.

Two, he wanted to be nice because it felt good to have…

How had Light put it?

Oh, right…

_Friends._

"Ryuzaki?"

L snapped to attention, aware that his breathing had begun to create a slight twinge of pain that converged in his already tight chest.

He cleared his dusty throat and turned rigidly to face the teen once more, who was leaning against the window, his eyes clear through the darkness and trained on the detective's static movements.

"Yes?"

Light sat up, his auburn hair sticking out here and there in response to the short amount of time that he had been seated in an uncomfortable slumber. He yawned again, his irises dilating from the action, and curtly moved to seat very closely next to the older man.

L shivered, but not from the cold. He suddenly felt, very _very_ vulnerable. He angled backwards on the balls of his feet, trying to ignore the rising panic and wave of emotions that had suddenly erupted none-too-helpingly in the pit of his stomach, causing the icy attack his body had taken a hold of, to momentarily scatter.

"W-What…?" His whispery voice couldn't be contained as he felt Light move beside him with reluctance, the chain jingling softly in between them. And then he was suddenly embraced, or morally trapped, in between the teen's arms, and his legs moved outwards as he was pulled down to lie in position against the teen's chest.

Their bodies lying amongst one another, Light pulled the blanket around them awkwardly, then leant back down to rest his head on the edge of the seat, his arms wrapped around the older man's waist. He too was aware that he suddenly felt more excited than usual, but in his sleep deprived state he found that he really didn't care.

"Light-Kun…" L's voice was very distant, but trained to be more than just a frantic whisper. He felt very uncomfortable with this. And more disturbingly enough, very stimulated. In the dark, he knew that his thoughts were more scattered than usual, and on impulse he found he suddenly jolted, causing the teen to tense slightly under him. Warmth was returning back to his body, but not in a fashion that he had hoped.

His cheeks were the first to show signs of life, tinging with crimson from the contact that caused him to incline on another rigid angle, and Light let loose a quiet and tired shudder, his grip tightening.

"Sorry." L mumbled, burying his head into the younger's shoulder and trying to encase himself in as much warmth as he could. The scent of being close to his adversary was overpowering, and he felt the need to inhale it at length.

_Cinnamon? Very distinct, yet still so subtle…_

"S' okay…" Light responded, his voice slowly fading as he fell back into a strangled sleep, grateful for the extra 'layer' that provided him with more comfort.

L nodded, and could feel the chemicals buzzing around in his brain slowly coming to a numbing halt as drowsiness pertained to invade. His own eyes fluttered shut, and his breathing became readily more steady as the sanctioned warmth of the teen's embrace flooded through his nearly dead system, evacuating whatever chill had failed to compromise.

And then, finally, as the cold of the night continued to weave icy fingers around the Kanto region of Japan, L, the world's greatest detective, let sleep come.

"Good night…Light-Kun."

_.:HeartBeats:._

The first thing he noticed was the notoriety of grey dancing across the hem of his eyelids. The small dots of darkened light that flashed through his waking consciousness caused him to jerk with a start. A grunt escaping his lips, Light's own auburn and shining irises, clouded with a sheen of early morning moisture, could be seen as his eyes fluttered open sleepily. He wrinkled his nose and went to sit up, a few joints popping out of place due to being in such a stiff position all night long.

That was when frosty nostalgia crept up on him, causing his heart to pound a little harder in his chest, when L's mass of raven hair focussed into view. The all too familiar sensation of waking up with the detective curled up on his chest was staggering all the same, and the memory of that certain night resurfaced.

_Beautiful._

What on earth did such a word mean to him anyway? Beautiful was a sight that someone would look at, something that would make that certain someone's heart soar. Something they could look at every angle, and never find the inscription of the word ugly within it.

_Something so pure, something so delicate, something so fragile...Something that if treated in the ugliest way, would break within in an instant. Something that, if broken into a thousand pieces, would turn ugly itself._

_Something that would, beautiful or ugly, surely make a beating heart shatter._

Light's own heart was beating in accordance, and he swallowed back a sudden dry feeling that made the back of his throat itch. He blinked wearily, and yawned, his stomach rising and pushing L upwards with it.

Looking around, he peered through the shadows and squinted at his watch. It read 5:34am. He twitched in annoyance, and went to lie back down, but found he couldn't move an inch under the older man's weight. Pushed back up uncomfortably against the car door, Light went to shove the detective onto the floor.

But looking back to how relaxed his features seemed to be, he found that he couldn't bring himself to disturb such a peaceful scene. To see such a sight as this was rare, he knew, since whenever he wanted to catch L sleeping for real he had either been asleep himself or in a semi-conscious state.

Why on earth would he want to watch L slumber anyway?

_Beautiful._

He swallowed the constriction of conflicting emotions within his chest and humbly placed his raised hands to rest on the top of the older man's head.

Feeling the soft inclined fuzz of L's raven coloured hair digging into his unsteady palms, he found that, on instinct, he had begun to stroke his fingers through that nest of his, revelling in the feeling of such contact.

But as soon as his hands came into contact with the roots at the base of the detective's scalp, the older man moved on impulse in his sleep, seemingly enjoying the affectionate sensation of being petted.

Light's lips turned upwards into a satisfied smile, and forgetting the negative whisper in the back of his mind, rubbed a little more coarsely, wanting to see L react again.

And react he did, by burrowing his face deeply into the teen's stomach, and Light could feel crimson tint his cheeks as the all too familiar wave of unidentifiable warmth spread throughout his stomach.

"Oh geez..." He muttered inwardly to himself, and pressing back up against the car door (_causing L to nuzzle into his stomach again_), he reached back to find something else he could use as a handhold to steady his shaking hands.

His fingers clasped around the edge of something curved, and he pulled, but forgetting all reason and realizing a second too late that he had in fact grasped the door handle, fell backwards suddenly as the door opened wide, bringing L to the ground with him.

He was instantly met with the sensation of his body against gravel, and he hissed in pain as L's limp figure collapsed on top of his aching body, acting as a cushion for the otherwise now awake man.

"What on earth...? Light-Kun?" L's voice was slurred and unsteady, but Light was too busy focussing on the pain erupting in the back of his skull to notice.

He must've hit his head. _Hard._

L pushed up to stand on his own two feet and he stumbled backwards like he was drunk, blinking rapidly and with a look of bizarre confusion slowly making itself known on the detective's features.

Then Light heard a thump, very much like the sound of his own heart beating furiously in his chest at that very moment, then hearing the sound of L's careful footsteps against the ground (the detective wasn't wearing any shoes, however) and then a noise similar to a frenzy of clicks in a row followed closely behind.

"Light-Kun." L's voice sounded quiet and almost distant, so he presumed that there was even more bad news to dish out.

"What...?" Light asked irritatingly, sitting up and waiting for his vision to clear. His jaw felt slack, and all he could feel was his head as it swam in circles of numbing extremity.

"We're locked out of the car."

_Fan-__fucking__-tastic._

Light groaned and stood, having to lean on the detective's shoulder for support. "W-What do you mean...?"

"I mean what I say. We are _locked outside_ of Matsuda's car."

Light limped airily over to the door and pulled at the handle ferociously, but he was met with the same results as L over and over again.

He cursed under his breath and stood by the driver's seat door, glaring down at the peaceful figure of Matsuda, who was curled up in that goddamn fluffy jacket with a content look on his face as he slept.

"Matsuda! Open up!" He growled, banging on the window. But the rookie did not respond, and for a moment the teen thought the older man was purposely ignoring them for his own entertainment. He banged on the window in temper again, swearing loudly, and then kicked at the door.

That was when he noticed the just as fluffy pair of earmuffs that were wrapped around Matsuda's head, making it look like he felt very comfortable indeed.

_Why the hell would the rookie need earmuffs...?_

A slightly disturbed thought was the first to reach his brain, but he brushed it aside with a start and turned to face L, who was busy gathering up the pink blanket that had made its way out with them as well.

"Matsuda's sleeping." Light concluded, helping the shivering detective to roll up the large bedspread. The detective's bare feet scuffed against the ground and Light heard him wince a little in pain as he went to move.

"Idiot." He muttered, rolling his eyes. "That's why you should wear shoes."

"You're no exception, Light-Kun. Don't tell me what I should be doing when you yourself are just as guilty as such."

Light gritted his teeth and looked down at his own feet, which, for the matter of fact, were not bare but very well covered by a pair of white (and once completely clean) pair of socks.

The teen snorted in defiance, annoyed that his point of ridicule had been smothered by the obvious fact at hand, and trudged with a frustrated gait over to the front of the car. L followed simply because he had no other course of action to consider, but began to reconsider when Light pulled himself to sit over on the hood.

"What are you doing?"

Light grunted, pulling the blanket up beside him, then patted the red lining of the car, motioning for the older man to take a seat.

L bit back a signal of detest at the sight before him, but gave in to the demand, even if they indeed looked like morons to anyone passing by in the early hours of the morning on the highway. He crouched on the smooth surface next to his adversary, and shivered as burst of late autumn air breezed past delicately.

"I'm cold..." He stated matter-of-factly, but was once again surprised when he felt the teen's arm wrap around his shoulders, and not a moment later the pink blanket was draped over their shoulders.

"Better?" Light asked before the detective could even utter a word, and squeezed his shoulder reassuringly.

L gave a slightly cynical glare, but nonetheless could feel the chill being shunned by the overpowering warmth. Light yawned, his movements partially inaudible in the grey of the morning, and leaned his head back to stare at the sky.

"Light-Kun?"

The teen turned to look at L, attention now focused on the older man's hunched over figure.

"Yeah?"

L blinked tersely, erasing the theory in his mind that Light wouldn't have responded let alone actually have an interest in what he had to say. He at least expected a prominent rejection if anything else.

Because of such, L found it hard to actually find any words. He didn't actually have anything of utter importance to ask of the teen, until he found himself blurting out of the blue, "What's your family like?"

Light blinked, and a small chuckle escaped his lips. "You should know. You put us under surveillance, didn't you?"

"No...I wanted to know from a more personal view of things. _From you._"

"Oh?"

The last remark made L fidget a little, almost as if the scrutinizing had been thrown back in his direction.

Of course, Light was the only person in the world that L knew who could actually achieve such.

"Yes." Was all he could say as he bit down on his thumbnail, turning rigid at the annoyance bubbling up inside his stomach.

"Well…" Light began, directing his gaze back up to the sky. "We're your typical sort of Japanese family, I suppose…We eat together, we talk and laugh whenever one of us makes a joke…Sayu can be the most annoying person in the world, besides you, of course." This was followed up by a laugh, and a huff from L as he shifted his sitting position to better suit his crouching needs.

"I mean, some of the biggest fights I've had are with Sayu, and they're usually over stupid things like homework and TV privileges…-"

"Have you ever considered starting a family of your own, Light-Kun?"

This question caught the teen off guard, and he simply gave L a goggled eyed look for a moment, before the detective pressed forward with an inclined nod. Light blinked, and replied with a sort of gurgled cough, "I dunno…I mean, I'm only seventeen…"

"I wasn't referring to your age, however."

"I know. It's just…Having a family of my own would be a pretty big thing. Not to mention I'd have to find the right person to start it with."

"Is perhaps Misa Amane that person, Light?"

Light's eyes widened slightly, and he found that his heart had begun to beat faster. In the dawning of the early day, he could barely make out L's eyes, both of which their obsidian gaze never faltering. _Why was L concerned with such a thing anyway? _It seemed very unusual that the older man was inquiring about this…

But then again, could anything about L be found as unusual anymore?

"Uhm…I…I don't…Why are you asking this anyway?"

"I'm merely curious."

…

With a sigh, Light rubbed the bridge of his nose with a thumb, and said, "I don't know. Most likely not…I mean, she's the one who claimed to be in love with me in the first place. I'm not sure if I could ever fall for her…She's not even my type."

"What _is_ your type then?"

"Well, what's yours?"

L hadn't expected Light to respond with a question like that, and it took him a moment to string up a reasonable answer. "I don't have a type. Love and relationships don't really interest me at all."

"Why?"

_Again with the questions…_

"Because I simply see no need to fall carelessly and headfirst into something as…_stupid_ as the notion of love. It's unreasonable, and foolish. He who-"

"Strikes first always wins, you know."

Countered once again, L's lips were set into a tight line as he directed his gaze away from Light and began to focus on the horizon ahead of them. The car had broken down on a deserted strip of the highway that overlooked a nearby sea inlet surrounded by small mountainous ridges.

Seemingly, from the obvious facts at hand, that they were doomed to remain stranded until help was offered otherwise, and the thought of staying stuck in the middle of nowhere frightened L a little.

Without any reception, and very soon their resources (_L suspected that they had enough food to last them three days at most_), would they have to resort to becoming hermits and learning to live off the land?

Or if worse came to worse…_Would they have to revert to cannibalism instead?_

"Hey, look at that…!" The simple note of excitement in Light's voice was enough to pull L out of his outrageous thoughts and he directed his gaze to look out over the horizon and in the direction the teen was pointing towards.

At first there was nothing to be seen, if one disregarded the sky around the surface of the water seemingly becoming clearer, and for a moment L had thought he had been duped. But that was until he saw something bright break from the horizon and over the surface of the bay, creating a bold and golden contrast against the slowly scattering grey.

"_What…"_

"I'm guessing you've forgotten what a sunrise looks like, right?"

The detective's eyes widened in response as the golden orb grew brighter, and it caused bubbles to dance across his vision as he found himself staring directly at the source. He narrowed his gaze immediately, squinting and trying to let as little light as he could possibly in, and focused on the outer rim of the sky instead.

Once the bubbles had dispersed, he found the true beauty of the day beginning to make itself known. The grey sky was dusted lightly over with a coat of lavender essence, and for a brief moment the stars were shown, dotted here and there and twinkling gently.

Overcast by this breathtaking view as the rising sun painted the horizon in colourful hues, he was momentarily oblivious to the sudden movement of Light leaning to rest his head on the older man's shoulder.

Encompassed in his void, L mechanically raised his arm and rested his hand on the teen's head, acknowledging his closer presence as oddly comforting. There was a moment's silence, followed by a small and tired sigh from L, until Light broke the silence by saying, "You know, a sunrise is something that can never be changed, even in a perfect world."

L raised an eyebrow, and angled his head to look down at the teen. "Whatever do you mean?"

Meeting his eyes, Light rose, and stretched slightly, before replying, "In a world that Kira desires, something like a sunrise and the way people appreciate it won't ever change."

"Incorrect."

"What?"

L substituted his crouching by suddenly crossing his legs, almost as if to count the look of contemplating to become more extreme, and Light found that he had never seen the older man do so before. "A world ruled by Kira can only be obstructed through fear. A world built on lies and the loss of human will can never be regarded as beautiful, and thus whoever dwells within the newly created world shall forever walk in blinding fear. And if all they can focus on is that fear, then the sunrise will never be the same to them."

"That is why we have to catch Kira, so the fear that He desires to leak into the world shall never be known by the generations of tomorrow."

Light took his time to take up the visionary expense in his wake, and for a moment was at a loss for words, until he finally managed a small nod. "I guess you're right…"

L's head jerked back to gawk at Light. "Why are you hesitant? That only raises your Kira percentage even higher, you know."

"Quit referring back to that! I'm not Kira! How many times do I have to say that?"

"No matter how many times you deny it, you know that Ryuzaki won't ever stop insisting, right?" This new yet familiar voice that echoed over their shoulders caused them to turn, and Matsuda drowsily peered out from the rolled down window.

"Oh, good morning, Matsuda." L's tone was dry, and he glared at the rookie with distaste.

"Ehh…Is anything the-Oh wow! Look at that! The sun's rising!"

Without a word to spare, Matsuda clumsily opened the car door, and almost falling over, he managed to scramble up the hood to take a place next to Light. This made the teen feel uncomfortable.

They all became silent, watching the river of light in front of them flood the world and highlight the beauty of the landscape around them. L was the first to hear the call of a bird in the distance, and as if to make this scene more memorable, the rookie shifted so he was in between the other two, and through his arms around their shoulders.

"You guys are my best friends, you know." He stated with a grin. Light was the first one to narrow his eyes, and he grunted, "Yeah, yeah."

However, it took a moment for L to fully comprehend what the rookie was actually saying. "Best friends?" He asked with a tilt of his head.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah. I mean, you guys might actually be my only friends, so it comes as no surprise, really."

_Friendship…_

It really didn't sound so bad after all.

**If you're wondering what happened t**

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><p><strong>o them in the end, work it out yourself. They either got a ride back to Tokyo from a fat trucker, or magically teleported because they're super duper special.<strong>

**Lol, only kidding. I guess the other Taskforce members eventually found them and they all went back home for a rest. So no, they DIDN'T go camping, and YES, Matsuda's car was left stranded out in the middle of nowhere. I'm so evil.**

**Review? And no flames or I burn you :D**


	12. Chapter 12: Trick or Treat

**AN: Man. How long has it been, five months? I'll give it that.**

**Well, I can fully say that I regret taking so long. Issues in my life caught up and I cast this chapter aside. In fact, even though I worked on it from time to time, I thought maybe I should just give up? But there are people out there who actually DO like my writing and who actually do read this.**

**So even if this is late, or whatever you want to call it, I thank you all for continuing to read. I thank you all for the reviews, and I'm sorry I can't get back to you all the time.**

**I had fun doing this chapter, and I intended to upload it on Halloween but something came in the way and it's now a week overdue. But oh well, at least it's coming up tonight.**

**Once again, I'm sorry, and thank you.**

**Disclaimer: Death Note belongs to the respective owners and I do not intend to use this fanfiction for a profitable cause; it is merely for fun.**

**Enjoy~ ^^ I really hope you guys like this.**

**(Sorry for the depressive AN's btw. I really need to work on that ._.)**

**PS: Truth or Dare by Marianas Trench doesn't belong to me either. The song happened to come up as I was writing this so YEAH. AHUH IT FITS.**

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><p><strong>Chapter Twelve, Trick or Treat<strong>

"It's cold, Ryuzaki..."

"I know, I know. Please, just give me a moment."

There was a rustling sound as L retrieved something from his jacket pocket. In his gloved hand he held a silver keycard, and with his entire body shaking, he tried to insert it into the slot installed in the frame of the steel door in front of him.

"W-Why don't we just go under like we always do...?" Light shivered, his cold breath coming out in foggy gasps.

Even though it was still autumn (the 29th of October, to be exact), the chill of winter had rapidly crept up into the city, seemingly overnight that was.

"Because this way is q-quicker..." L's deep and smooth voice now held a tone of slight desperation as he found the card wouldn't move in the way he wanted. Instead, it vibrated between his shaking fingers, and in his stupor he almost dropped it.

"Oh, just move!" Light snarled in anger, snatching the card from the older man, and slid it easily into the slot.

The key reacted with a beep, and Light pulled off his glove with the edge of his teeth, before punching in the pin number a little too eagerly.

The lock rejected him with a toned buzz, and he slammed a fist into the wall in frustration. "Damn it! By the time we go around we would have frozen ourselves to death!"

L stood nearby, his eyes widened slightly as they always were, and he lifted up his shaking hand to bite his thumbnail.

Met with glove, however, he poked out his tongue sadly in response, and merely shoved his hands into his coat pockets, trying hard to keep himself warm.

"And it hasn't even started snowing yet..." Light moaned, and with a sigh he turned back to L. "What now?"

"Hmm? Oh, well, you can try the pin-code again, you know."

Frowning at his own stupidity, Light clicked his tongue and muttered something hateful under his breath, before pressing the buttons a little more carefully.

This time, a lighter buzz echoed from the pad, and a beep was soon to follow as the door opened gently in response.

Light turned the handle and made his way inside, L following along after him eagerly. They shut the cold out behind them, and shouldered over to an elevator nearby. Once they had reached their designated floor, the elevator doors opened with a smooth whir, and leaning against a nearby wall, waiting for them, was Matsuda.

He was donned in a neat, pale blue bathrobe, and as soon as he saw their faces come into view, his lips turned upwards into a satisfied smile.

"Did you get them?"

Raising his eyebrow a little, Light stepped forward and shook the water droplets from his hair, glaring slightly at the rookie as he held up a shopping bag in his free hand.

"Here you go, Matsuda. Five bags of ready to pop-popcorn corn kernels, Tokyo's finest coffee mugs and three large tins of cocoa."

He dumped the contents down in front of the rookie with a huff, and spread out his arms as if he were presenting something spectacular. "Anything else you need?" His voice was toned at the edges with a fine sheet of irritation, but Matsuda didn't seem to notice this as he simply shook his head and smiled warmly. "Thanks guys. That was a really nice thing to do for me."

"You know we're only doing it because we lost your car?" Light straightened up and removed his brown leather jacket, revealing a crisp black turtleneck beneath.

"Yeah I know...But hey, do you wanna have a movie marathon with me? That's kind of why I asked you to get more than one thing in the first place."

This piqued L's interest all of a sudden. "What movies are you going to be viewing?" He asked, tilting his head in curiosity.

"Oh! Well, first off there's Princess Dia-"

"Never mind." L and Light chorused in unison, turning back to the elevator gingerly.

"But there's also Bridget Jones's-..." He was silenced as the two's faces faded out of view when the elevator door's closed in front of them.

He scratched his head in confusion. How weird. Who the hell on earth would pass up an opportunity to watch all these movies on a cold day like this?

He simply shrugged, retrieved the bag from the floor and made his way down the hallway to where his beloved large flat screen television with its inbuilt surround-sound system awaited him.

After all, he could always ask Misa if she wasn't busy. And then maybe Aizawa would join if he liked, even if he was spending the day at home.

Meanwhile, L and Light had landed on their floor and shuffled towards their room, immediately being welcomed by the central heating installed throughout the building.

Light eagerly shoved off his jacket until it lay in a heap on the floor, then without consideration of putting it away, he merely shrugged his shoulders and leaned forward to pull his sweater over his head, dumping that aside also.

He gripped at his shoulders and shuddered slightly, his damp hair spraying droplets onto the linoleum floor. "Ryuzaki…" He began.

_Oh boy…_

"What is it, Light-Kun? I'm not in the mood to hear your bitching."

The teen's eyes widened in surprise. Since when did the detective use _that_ sort of language?

"Uhm…I was just going to say…My wrist."

"What about it?"

The glare he received from L was rather frightening, and he took a step back to steady himself. He hesitated for a moment, before clearing his throat and replied, "It hurts. Like, really bad. I don't know if it's the cold or whatever, though it most likely is. It stings, and I was wondering…-"

"-If you could remove the handcuffs?" L's voice was point-blank, his gaze never alternating to anything else.

Light's own gaze was sheepish, and he rubbed the back of his head to accompany the feeling. "Well…Not really, no. I mean, I wasn't suggesting you remove them for good or something, just-"

"I say no, Light-Kun. I am not going to release you, under any circumstance. So, just bear with your cold wrist until you confess up, or man up."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You know very well what it means, Kira."

The tone in L's voice hurt, more so than other times, Light came to realize. Was it because of the detective's sudden mood change…?

_Or did he really just hate him that much?_

Grimacing, the teen turned away and rubbed his wrist, knowing it was pointless to try and stand his ground. However, no amount of rubbing could calm the impeding feeling of insecurity in the back of his mind.

"Damn it Ryuzaki! It feels like it's about to just drop right off…"

"So will your genitals once I'm through with you. Now, shut up. I'll have you know I'm not feeling so warm myself either." With that, L turned with his back to the teen, kicking off his soaking shoes and began pulling off the bright green scarf that was fixed snugly around his neck.

He seemed to be having trouble however, and Light picked up on this by the frustrated grunts the older man was giving as he sharply tried to tug the scarf away, but only resulting in accidentally strangling himself.

The teen rolled his eyes and he stepped forward, grabbing one end of the scarf as he tried to pull the detective free. "Hold still…"

"Let go of me!" The loud shout from the detective ended up startling the younger, and he immediately let go, standing back and holding up his hands in his defence.

L turned around and pointed a finger accusingly at him, his glare still intact. "Don't touch me! Don't you ever touch me, you hear?"

Why was L so…_angry?_

"Calm down, you idiot. No need to overreact. I was just trying to help you-"

"I don't need any help, Light. Now, keep your hands to yourself." He snarled, before dropping the scarf onto the floor with just as much consideration Light didn't have.

Silence followed as the two padded out into the lounge, and Light gave a sigh of relief as the building's inner warmth gradually started to warm up his body. He rubbed his shoulders to maximise the sensation, but was jerked down suddenly as L flopped onto one of the leather couches just a few feet away.

The detective, his face contorting with contempt one moment then twisting back into annoyance the next as his weight sagged down into the piece of furniture, raised an eyebrow at the teen who was now kneeling comically on the floor.

Light clicked his tongue as he stood back up and brushed himself down, before straightening his collar and sitting down curtly on the couch opposite.

A ticking sound was to be heard from the clock mounted upon the wall, and Light was about to stand up and grab himself a mug of coffee when he suddenly heard something strange.

L had begun to utter something in time to the clock's ticking, and his voice rose up and down as he sort of sang, "Snape. Snape. Severus Snape."

_What?_

"Snape. Snape. Severus Snape…DUMBLEDORE."

The sudden shout caused the teen to jolt on the spot, and with a start, he eyed the detective warily. Had the detective just started talking about…

_Harry Potter?_

Light was about to question the detective's sanity levels, when he was simply met with a sigh. "I am bored…"

"So am I." Light abandoned his attempt at coffee and also any attempt of questioning the detective as he too slumped down into the couch with a grunt.

A moment passed before L's voice piped up once more, "We should watch television."

Light's gaze was directed in the direction of the large flat-screen TV mounted upon the wall opposite them and just above the fireplace. Such a thing left Light to ponder why a fireplace had been installed within an automatically heated building when he found himself lunging for the remote that was sitting on the coffee table.

However, L had made it his goal to reach the remote before the teen, transforming this little bout almost into a game. At the same time that Light had gone in for the kill, so did he, and no mercy was spared as their heads collided painfully.

Light fell back, clutching his head and hissing with pain, but the detective was quicker to react. L merely shook off the pain, ignoring the way his head swam, and swiped the remote up with trembling fingers. Grinning in triumph as he went to crouch back down on the couch, he was unprepared as the teen lunged at him instead, trying fretfully to snatch away the older man's prize.

"Gimme!" Light's childlike tone made L want to laugh and he stood up with one foot planted on the top of the couch and his chained hand up in the air, holding the remote above their heads. "It's mine, Light-kun. Admit defeat and I may consider giving it to you after I'm done."

Light suddenly found himself thinking how much he hated the dominance L had so roughly accomplished, and he glared up at him venomously. "Try me." With a growl, he locked his arms around L's waist in a bear-like embrace, and kicked off his feet, meaning to tackle him back onto the couch.

His attempt was short lived though as the couch rocked and then toppled beneath their combined weight, causing them to fall along with it. The next few minutes were spent for the two groaning in agony and Light's arms never letting go of their prize.

L weakly tried to squirm from the teen's hold, but Light only gripped tighter, and angled up so one of his arms tried to reach for the remote, which had fallen only a few centimetres away. The detective proceeded to wrap his legs around the teen's waist to get him to keep still, yet neither took into account the awkward position they were in until the clock suddenly struck twelve.

They were struck out of their own desperation, and L's eyes widened as Light reacted a second too late, his waist colliding and grinding up against the detective's own as he slowed to a stop, a suggestive blush creeping across his cheeks.

"L-Light-Kun, get off me…" L's tried to keep his voice level, but found it hard from the sudden pang of pleasure racing up and through his body, causing his fingers to shake.

The teen seemed to get the message and with a strained mutter of acknowledgement, he rolled to the side, struggling to stand up straight. L cleared his throat, and reached out to swipe the remote swiftly back into his hands.

He scratched the back of his head before pressing the on button, causing the television to come alive with picture and sound. A news commentator stood on the screen, rambling on about the recent rumours of Kira appearing as a guest speaker on a television show.

He huffed in account to such hokum, and was about to change the channel when something interesting reached his ears. "And now, we'll go to Edward, who is presenting live from the USA on his report about the Halloween Parade being held in the middle of Central Park. Take it away."

The screen then flashed to a different scene of a young man, probably about in his twenties, holding up a microphone and smiling with excitement at his presentation being aired. His brown hair fluttered in the light breeze as he shouted over the cheers of the crowd, "And what a wonderful day it is, Faith! Halloween has been celebrated for centuries all around the world, but it seems like today here, in the middle of Central Park, is where the excitement is happening the most."

"Change the channel…" Light's voice interrupted the stream of L's thoughts. The detective, however, remained still, staring at the TV with very wide eyes, almost in shock. Unbeknownst to the teen, a very good idea was starting to form inside of L's mind.

He simply turned to the younger, and beamed.

.:HeartBeats:.

"_Again_, Ryuzaki? I thought we were done with outside for the day…"

"I told you that I didn't want to hear your bitching again today, _didn't I_?"

The cold chill of the day bit into Light's cheeks as they walked along frantically to get to the downtown store. L's own breath was ragged as he huddled up tighter into his jacket, a misty residue making its home on his delicate eyelashes.

They quickly scurried across the road and onto the footpath once more, making a passer-by gasp in astonishment. L ignored such a thing and continued to hurry, pulling Light along behind him hastily.

Such action from the older man was leaving the teen perplexed. _Why was he in such a rush…?_

"Ryuzaki, hold on. _Slow down_." Light tried to make a stop, but it seemed like L wasn't listening as he found himself being dragged along harshly once more. He grumbled testily, clenching his fist as the cold handcuffs dug into his skin.

They walked in silence for a few minutes, until Light snapped back into reality when the tinkle of a melodic bell could be heard. "We're here." L promptly stated, that disturbing grin coming into view once more.

"We're here? For what, exactly?" Light glared at the older man. L, however, replied with an extension of his finger as he pointed at the window. The teen huffed, before turning to eye the window dryly, and his eyes were met with the colourful image of Halloween-themed décor.

A large jack-o-lantern twirled credulously on a piece of black string suspended from the roof, a mischievous grin cut into its surface, obviously being the centrepiece of the show. More jack-o-lanterns hung around in clumps, and a wretched looking witch travelled along beneath on an almost antique looking train set. The walls were decked in red velvet adorned with the silhouettes of bats, and a starry sky hung as a menacing looking backdrop, a yellow moon looming beneath a bunch of makeshift clouds.

"Wow, mommy! Look at this…" He was weakly shoved aside by a little girl, her hair as black as L's, as she peered into the window, a bedazzled look set on her face.

Light eyed the girl oddly, but his confusion became panic when L leant down next to the girl, and smiled. The little girl looked up at him with a goggle-eyed look, and L looked back into the window. "What's your favourite thing about Halloween?"

The child tilted her head, before smiling shyly, and she replied, "I like trick or treating. Mommy says it's not really what people in Japan do, but that's why daddy takes me. This year, I'm dressing up as a witch, just like the one on the train!"

"Hmm, very interesting indeed. Now, tell me, what do you like more? Trick or treat? Because I have a surprise for you."

The girl's eyes lit up as L pulled a candy bar from his pocket, and placed it gently into her hands. She was about to respond, when a voice was heard from the door of the shop. "Come along, Jamie! We have to go to the candy store to pick up the sweets for the trick-or-treaters, remember?"

The girl, or Jamie, stepped back from L, and she bowed at the two men before scurrying along after her mother. L watched in what seemed like satisfaction for a moment, and then he turned back to give Light a placid stare.

"What on earth is that look for?"

"Frankly, Ryuzaki, you seemed like a paedophile or something."

"Come now. Children happen to fascinate me, but I would never act on such an impulse."

"So are you saying you DO get impulses?" Light gave a snort and slyly grinned, causing L to scowl in discomfort. "Of course not! What on earth are you implying?"

"That your actions spoke otherwise."

But once again, L countered by stating, "So did yours, when you happened to be Kira, but now I'm forced to believe your word over my own judgement."

Light decided not to drag it out and instead he sealed his lips in a tight, white line, and adjusted his black beanie. "Let's just go inside."

"Indeed." The detective agreed, and they entered the shop quickly, shutting the cold out to dwindle on their fading resonance.

They were greeted by a rather spooky atmosphere, their surroundings being lit by a single candle and the light filtering in through the velvet curtains. L's defences immediately sprung up, and Light failed to notice as the detective curled over just a little bit more as his eyes narrowed in uncertainty.

First off, Light went to examine a pile of Halloween-themed props stacked neatly in one corner, leaving L to fend for himself in the dark a chain's-length away from his reassurance. The older man darted his head around, his eye's widening like an owl's as he scanned the area for any sort of miscellaneous disturbances.

Ashamedly, despite Halloween never really being a reoccurring theme throughout his life (in fact, today was the first time he had ever considered celebrating it truly, if one discounted when once as a child, he had in fact gone trick-or-treating, but that was many a year ago and such a memory had become fuzzy) L found that these scary scenes were a little…too frightening for his taste.

Contradictory to that fact, L had to suppress a distinct yelp of surprise as he felt something sharp pinch his behind. He covered up the mark with his hands, and swivelled on his heels to face his attacker, the chain jingling in response.

At first he thought it might have been Light being…creepy as usual, but when he was met with a pair of wide blue eyes and a smooth face framed by golden strands of hair, his discomfort transformed into annoyance instead.

"Misa Amane, what on earth are you doing here?"

The young girl had to suppress a gasp of her own as she stared in shock at the older man. "Ryuzaki? What the hell-"

"Language, Miss Amane."

"-Are you doing here?"

It seemed as if Light hadn't noticed his would-be girlfriend yet (_that, or he was hiding away from her_). Noticing that Misa hadn't noticed Light either, the detective tilted his head and asked, "Why did you just…"

"Oh, I thought you were Light. I heard his voice before from the back of the shop, and decided to see if I could find him. Looks like I got you instead. Oopsie."

L's glare ever so slightly became more noticeable. "It's nice to know how frisky you two are."

Misa's face screwed up in disgust. "Eww. You're such a pervert."

"I agree with you, Misa, not to mention he fancies little children." Oh, of course Light chose this time to come out of hiding and present a snide remark like that, even if it was at the cost of Misa tackling him. It seemed like Light's evil tendencies reached no end.

"Light!" Misa's shriek echoed through the detective's ears, and he gritted his teeth to still his frustration as the blonde flew past him and into the arms of her 'saviour'. "I knew I would find you here!"

_Who's the stalker now?_

"Hey there, Misa…" Light's own enthusiasm was dry, but he smothered it by flashing one of his award-winning smiles. This seemed to get Misa's hopes up, and she leaned up on her tiptoes to plant a kiss on his lips.

It seemed as if the familiarity of a kiss wasn't found with this girl, and as such, Light found himself caught off guard, and he took a step backwards, his eyes widening.

Suddenly, he found himself remembering the last time that he had kissed L, more out of spite than fear in reality, to mock him, and he gripped at Misa's shoulders, pushing her back gently. The blonde gave a startled look, and to reassure himself, Light blinked and gave another smile, "Not in here, sweety. People might see us."

For some unknown reason, those very words caused L's chest to go tight. His glare turned vile, and a dark feeling pooled into his stomach, causing him to shake quietly. The sight of Light giving any attention to that girl was…_revolting_.

_But it's not like L gave a damn._

"Oh, yes! I understand…I'm so sorry, Light!"

"Other people cannot see you anyway, since there is hardly enough light to go around." The detective covered the sourness in his tone by examining the candle, the flame flickering when he drew too close.

Something in that sentence made Light's brain tick, but he dismissed it and stepped back from Misa before saying, "Do you think you can help us set up for…It's a celebration or something, isn't it, Ryuzaki? That's why you dragged me in here."

"Actually, a Halloween party, to be correct. But yes, I suppose we could use some help…"

Misa's smile returned. "Sure I can! Is it a costume party? Because first off, we need to get you guys some outfits. Maybe they have some in the back of the store."

"What?" L and Light chorused in unison, but they were hushed by the ditzy blonde.

She began to waddle through the shadows and to the back of the store, being greeted by another candle and a shop assistant wearing a very comical Edward Cullen mask.

The attendant, whom L couldn't figure out whether they were a male or female, silently pointed to a corridor leading down to the back and to a bunch of change-rooms.

"This is going to be so much fun!"

The eagerness in Misa's voice sounded just a little bit…_too eager_.

_.:HeartBeats:._

"I am NOT wearing that."

"Whoever said that you were wearing it? No, Light's going to instead!"

"Wait, what?!"

The following conversation had proceeded by Misa pulling a Spock costume off the clothing rack, a playful grin highlighted on her lips. L had obviously, for some unknown reason, assumed that he would be the one to wear such a ridiculous thing, but he had been proven wrong when the blonde had gestured towards her boyfriend instead.

"But I don't even watch Star Trek!"

"It doesn't matter. I think Spock would suit you."

At this, L snorted, and Light flashed him a glare, before he rubbed the bridge of his nose with two fingers and turned back to Misa. "I'm not wearing that."

But he was answered by L as the detective pushed him into a nearby stall, unlocking the handcuffs and throwing the costume at him, all within a span of three seconds. "I'll let you out once you're done."

"But I-" The teen was silenced by the hurried motion of the changeroom curtains closing, and he scowled in remorse. _Stupid L._ He thought to himself as he turned his back to the entrance, eyeing the crumpled suit lying on the floor in front of him.

He picked it up between two fingers, very much in a fashion similar to how L held his spoons, scrunching up his face in disgust. Looking back at red velvet curtains (coloured to match the crimson carpet beneath his feet) and then back at the suit, he rolled his eyes and begun to undress.

Meanwhile, L was standing nearby, nudging the ground with the tip of his toe, while Misa was busying herself by searching through the racks of clothing, a bizarre look of concentration set on her face. He took no notice of the irritating girl, before she pulled back from the rack, gasping loudly.

"Oh my god."

"What?"

"Oh my god…!"

"…Misa, what are you so…shocked about?"

Immediately the older man wished he hadn't asked such a question as she spun around to reveal a giant panda suit. Bobble headed mask and all.

At the devious look on her face, he shrunk back in fear. "Don't you dare come near me with that!"

Misa's eyes widened. "But…It's so perfect! Come on, Ryuzaki! I mean, if you weren't a human-panda yourself, then this suit just completes you!"

"I'm perfectly fine with my natural bamboo-eating bear look, thank you very much!"

As these words passed his lips, a rattling noise could be heard as the curtains behind them were pushed to the side. Standing amidst his clothes that were now strewn around on the floor, Light stood, all suited up and ready to fly the Enterprise.

There was a moment of silence, before L promptly burst out laughing. He clutched at the sides of his stomach, keeling over as the noise grew louder. Light's lip twitched in a mix of embarrassment and anger, and he ripped the wig from his head, leaving his own hair messy in its wake.

L stifled a final chuckle, before he stood, giving Light the sign of peace that the character he was cosplaying was so well known for. "Live long and prosper, Light-Kun." He grinned.

"I'm going to kill you, one day, Ryuzaki." Light's voice was thick with venom.

"That only adds onto your Kira percentage, you know."

Before Light could lunge forward and tear out his enemy's throat, Misa stood in between them, cupping his face and planting a soft kiss on his cheek. "Light is NOT Kira! He's much too smart and handsome for that."

Light almost poked his tongue out at L, before the detective mused, "And you are too blonde to know the difference, Amane. So, your argument is invalid."

The teen growled. "Whatever. Don't listen to him, Misa. Now help me get out of this damn costume…"

"With pleasure!" The girl almost squealed, a happy smile coming into view as she squeezed her 'boyfriend's' waist tighter, directing him over to the change room with a rather seductive smile.

Light, however, moved out from under Misa's grip and came to stand beside L, once again raising his hands in defence. "Actually, I didn't mean it literally…That would seem just a little bit perverted."

At this, L cleared his throat, and the teen turned to him with narrow eyes. "Hey, aren't you worried about me now that the handcuffs are off?"

L stifled a chuckle, before replying with a naïve glint in his eye, "What are you going to do? Zap me with your laser gun, Captain?"

He rolled his eyes. "Real mature."

"Hey, wait…Are you maybe wanting Ryuzaki to change you instead of me, Light?" Misa's high voice broke the silence, and at these words, Light could feel the heat rushing into his cheeks.

_Thank god_ for the dim surroundings.

"What!?" He exclaimed, looking over to the young blonde with a look of utter disbelief and embarrassment. Misa, on the other hand, couldn't decide whether to take her own joke as, well, a joke, and her face contorted between hurt and amusement.

L, meanwhile, just stood there calmly, looking over between the two would-be Kiras as they continued their small bout of arguing. "That's disgusting! I'm not gay, Misa!"

"But you're always with him! You were even taking a bath with him the other day. I saw you!"

"That's beside the point!"

"How is that beside the point? Are you saying that you don't love me anymore…?!"

"What!?" There goes that word again. "Whoever said I was in love with you?"

"So you must be in love with Ryuzaki then!"

"I told you, I'm not gay!"

"May I intervene?" L's voice was smooth, not showing any hint of how much he was terribly enjoying such an amusing scene.

"No!" The other two's own voices rose in pitch, and L shrunk back in surprise, before Light turned to him and pointed a finger accusingly at the blonde. "Ryuzaki! Tell her I'm not gay!"

L's eyes darted to look over the female. "He is indeed homosexual, Amane."

Misa's blue eyes widened, tears forming in the corners of them. "I knew it! I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!"

"Yes, indeed. And he is currently cheating on you with Matsuda."

"What?!" _And once again_. They both screamed, Light's gaze turning venomous while tears spilled down Misa's own cheeks. "With that idiot?! But why…? I'm so much more prettier than him!"

"He must have very bad taste in men." L persuaded, leaning back on his heels with an amused yet innocent smile.

"I'll show you, Light! I'll show you that I can be the one for you…!" And with that, the young girl stormed out, sobbing hysterically and slamming the door shut behind her.

There was a moment of silence, until…

"Well, that went well."

Light directed his glare back to L, and snarled, "You are an asshole. You are the meanest person I have ever met!"

"I beg to differ, Light-kun."

"Oh yeah?"

L came over and prodded Light's chest with a finger, almost forgetting the fact that the teen had just argued about his sexuality in a Spock suit. "_You_, are the meanest person you have ever met. And you are the meanest person you will ever know."

He barely had time to react as a fist collided with his face, knocking him off impact and sending him sprawling to the ground. "…I was asking for that, wasn't I?" He asked in a dry tone, the pain becoming dull in his cheek.

"That and more. You're lucky I'm not kicking your head in right now." Light spun on his heel, and retreated back inside the changeroom, closing the curtain behind him with a huff.

L sat up, rubbing his head, and just stared at the place the teen had once been. Not a moment too soon it seemed, Light came into view once more, fully dressed and with an irritated grin on his face. "Forget about costumes. The idea is pretty stupid anyway."

With that, he bent over and grabbed the end of the chain, clicking the cuff around his wrist once more and adjusting it so it sat comfortably and wasn't chafing against his skin.

He yanked his wrist, making L stumble to his feet, and shoved his hands into his pockets, walking back up the hallway and to the main part of the store.

L just watched him in silence.

_.:HeartBeats:._

"Light-Kun."

_Silence._

"Light-Kun."

_Again, silence._

"Light. KUN."

…

"Kira. Kira-San. Kira-Kun. Yagami-San. Yagami-Kun. Light. Light-Kun. Asahi-Kun. …Light-_Chan_."

"Did…Did you just call me…_cute_?"

"Ah, finally you noticed." L's lips turns upwards into a satisfied smile, though Light wasn't sure what he was smiling about. Was he satisfied that Light had finally given him attention or maybe perhaps that the teen had acknowledged the comment? _Was it even a comment in the first place…?_

He adjusted his beanie with a tight scowl, and walked even faster, scorning himself for even answering back.

"The silent treatment will get you nowhere, you know. The handcuffs are still, and always will be, here until you confess to being Kira."

_And he always had to make it so obvious as well._

The younger merely rolled his eyes and tightened his hold on the shopping bag he held in his midst, and brought his eyes up to greet the grey and foggy sky. Snow had yet to fall, though he presumed from the looks of things it might start later on during the day. After all, it the month was about to roll over into winter.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard a sound distinctly like a dog barking just over his shoulder. He spun on his heel and eyed the detective with wide eyes. "How did you-"

But the detective wasn't looking at him. In fact, he had his back turned to him, his eyes focussing on something on the ground. Light stepped from behind the detective, and found himself looking downwards at a small dog.

The puppy was a pug, who sported dirty fur. It sat there calmly, eyeing the two men with a casual look in its beady black eyes. It then came over, it's curly tail wagging feebly, and sniffed L's foot, before nudging it with the tip of its nose.

"Oh, how _adorable…_" L's voice was distant as he bent down to meet the puppy at an appropriate level, his lips turning upwards into another smile.

Light, however, kept his distance. The sight of a stray dog in such a filthy state made him shudder in disgust. "Ryuzaki-" He began, but L interrupted him by saying, "I thought you were not speaking to me, Light-kun?"

"Does it even have a collar?" He asked matter-of-factly, ignoring the comment L had made before. The detective shook his head, before (_such an action surprised Light_), taking the dog within his arms and cradling it gently.

The dog squirmed upwards to try and lick L's face, and the older man chuckled quietly under his breath, scratching it behind its small and floppy ears. "You're very cute indeed. Cuter than Light-Chan over there, in fact."

Snorting in annoyance to the fact that he had just been compared to a dog, he tugged on the chain and began to move again, turning back around and continued walking down the street that lead to the Taskforce headquarters.

They moved in silence for about two minutes, until he heard the detective muttering to himself like a crazy man would. He whipped his head around to see that the dog was still being carried in his accomplice's arms, and he stormed forward over to the two. "What the hell are you doing!?"

L looked up innocently, as did the puppy, who seemed to Light to have a devious look in its eyes, and the detective tilted his head to the side. "I'm walking. With you. Back home…?"

"Put it down, Ryuzaki."

"She is a _she_, not an it. Learn the proper way to address someone."

"It's a goddamn stray. I'm not going to make an effort to call it anything special when you just picked it up off the street like that."

L's eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "There there, do not listen to him, Delilah. He's just a lowly human."

Light laughed rather loudly, and gave a sneer. "What does that make you then?"

The detective clicked his tongue, and stood up a little straighter, grinning in response as he lifted his free hand up to look like a lop-sided ear.

"Woof, _woof_." He barked heartily, wagging his behind comically to imply the notion of a tail, and flapped his hand to make the act even more believable.

Light laughed again, because the older man just looked so silly doing that publicly in the middle of the open street, and lifted his own hands to make ear shapes on top of his head. "Nyah nyah." His own voice became a little more high pitched as he tried to imitate the actions of a furry feline, before clearing his throat and stifling another chuckle.

"But seriously, Ryuzaki...These things have fleas-"

"We can treat her."

"-And they make such a mess..."

"We'll house train her, and teach her how to use the restroom if need be."

"It might belong to someone else?"

"No collar, and this adds onto the fact of such a state she is in. Look." He held the puppy up to show it's stomach. "She's very _very_ VERY skinny."

Light groaned. "...Why do you want to keep her anyway?"

Thrilled slightly at the fact that the teen was now using gender-centric nouns to describe their new friend, he nuzzled into her slightly. "She's very dejected, and just needs someone to look after and care for her..."

The end of that sentence dragged out to sound just a little bit solemn, and in turn L's eyes drooped ever so slightly, before he fastened a look of determination, looking very much like a little child.

"Please, Light-Kun. I'll make sure she's very well taken care of."

_...Please?_

Rolling his eyes, he sighed. "_Fine_. But she's your responsibility."

"Oh, wonderful!" The grin that came after that answer made Light feel surprised, and L scratched behind Delilah's ears affectionately.

"Now I won't have to talk to the boring human all day." L's voice sweetened, his lips pursed to look like they belonged to a fish.

Light rolled his eyes and tugged at the detective's wrist, pulling him along behind him once more.

"Thank you, Light-Kun." L's grin hadn't faded, his eyes forever trained on the squirming bundle of fur he held in his arms.

Light smiled, a little warmly. "You're welcome, Ryuzaki."

_.:HeartBeats:._

"You still haven't told me what these are all for." Light's good turn of nature had soon been thrown out the window as he dully watched the detective string paper pumpkins onto the walls, Watari helping him with a small smile.

"I would've thought you could've guessed from the evidence all around.

Light took another scan of the room, many different noticeable objects coming into view.

There was a pumpkin shaped punch bowl, piles and piles of assorted sweets, string decorations much like the one L was handling right now, a few bottles of white wine (the same sort that he remembered having sipped at the afterparty after the funeral) and sake, masks, candles, spooky ornaments, CD tracks of Halloween-themed music and a stack of halloween themed/horror movies.

"...I didn't think you were serious about this party, Ryuzaki."

"It is no mere 'party', Light-Kun, but a celebratory instance to commemorate-"

"Halloween, I know. It just seems a little bit..."

"What?"

"It's not your style."

Well, that wasn't exactly true. Light had found, lately, that he didn't even know what to expect from the detective. Not that he knew in the first place, however.

The man had always been subtly closed off with the world around him, up until the point in time where Light had spoken out against his stoical personality.

Light knew that L was a very prideful person, a little too proud, sometimes.

In fact, he was pretty sure this entire time with all the activities they had participated in, that L's number one goal was just to prove him wrong.

But then again, sometimes that pride would give way to the innocent and childish streak that he found the older man so duly carried.

This innocence had also become really apparent during the extended time they had spent doing these things. The detective had been right when he stated at the start that they may very well have the chance to see the barriers they both had broken down.

L was being more open and true than he had ever been, and despite the obvious danger he found himself in, he was enjoying it.

_After all, what harm could come from all of this?_

"Delilah! Ladies do not chew on things!" He suddenly heard the detective erupt with a gasp, and focussed his attention on them as he saw the older man gently tap the dog on her nose.

Delilah snorted, wagged her tail and began to pant, her breathing sounding too much like gagging.

It unnerved him a little.

"You could help, you know." L said, nodding rather stiffly in Light's direction.

Light snapped to his senses and bent down beside his company, reaching around for a thumbtack and anything to pin up on the wall.

He speared a paper bat through its head as he pinned it next to the TV, a little lower than the string of paper zombies that L had just finished handling.

Chuckling at his accomplishment, he went to put up another, when Watari suddenly cleared his throat. "Gentlemen. I am off to fetch some refreshments. Mr Yagami, might I get you anything?"

"Hmm? Oh, coffee would be right. Thanks."

"The usual, Watari. Thank you very much."

"Of course." And with a small bow, the old man left in silence.

"Hey, so..."

"What is it?"

"Is Watari...related to you or something?"

L rose a little stiffly, straightening out his back and blinking rapidly as he felt something pop.

"He is...something of the sort, yes."

"A caretaker, maybe?" _Well, Light seemed curious_.

"Well...You are correct. Watari looks after me."

"How long has he been doing that for...?"

L tilted his head and thought for a moment. "An odd...twelve years, maybe? I've lost count."

"Oh wow, since you were a kid?"

"Something like that."

Why they were on the topic of Watari stumped him a little, but it gave L a little room to think.

The old man had been in his life from the earliest memories he could really recall.

Perhaps the earliest that involved the two being together was L's tenth birthday. He remembered that had been the day when he received his very first kite. But like all toys and like the child he was, it lost his interest after the 3rd time he had used it.

It was a red kite, as bright as autumn leaves and cherries, and flew as high as he could make it.

It was almost like a bird, but instead of having a free will of its own it had its own freedom controlled by the very beings who manufactured it.

Made to be enjoyed, like any and every toy; L sometimes wondered if it would be easier being a toy train handled by a six year old or a doll handled by a little girl.

If he were a train, the only thing he would have to worry about is the occasional tantrum and the day his use had been worn, but then again, he would not need to worry because no emotions were apparent.

But if he were a doll, at least he could have a resemblance to a living human being, and his very life came from what the child gave and envisioned.

But to only be played, and the story may be different every time. Almost like a lie.

_Almost like a game._

"So, do you have any parents?"

"Pardon?"

"Parents, y'know? A mom, a dad, or even any brothers or sisters?"

L blinked and scratched his head. "I am not obliged to give you such information."

"Fair enough...Also, why were you so pissed this morning?" _Such a quick change of subject_...The detective wasn't sure he could keep up.

"I have no idea what you mean."

Light smirked. "Oh right, because _'I don't want to hear any more of your bitching'_ is how you normally act. Gotcha."

L scowled. "I shall become nasty again if you keep that up."

With this, the younger boy hunched over on the spot, and stuck a thumb in between his teeth. He widened his eyes and tried to make his voice as monotone as possible as he said, "5% of being a total douchebag, Mr Ryuzaki."

_He was just asking for it, wasn't he?_

L rose both eyebrows, and stood up as straight as he could, reversing Light's own actions and flaunting a little as he gave a rather sassy resonance, "I am so not gay, Ryuzaki!"

"What the hell?! I do NOT sound like that! And I'm not gay either!"

"Oh, your actions state otherwise."

Light chuckled slightly, "Yeah, well, you have no excuse to be such an ass all the time."

"And you have no excuse to love MY ass, Light-Chan. Oh, _burn_."

From the chuckling erupted laughter from the both men, and Light launched forward, tackling L down to the couch. "Pfft, idiot. Your tush is way too tight for me."

"And here we go with your homosexual remarks once more." L said in between giggles, "Will you ever stop?"

"Not likely. Will you ever stop suspecting me of being Kira?"

"...Touché." The chorus died, and the two men lay there in silence as the clock ticked overhead.

"Tonight shall be very fun." L suddenly said, looking up at Light with those large, black eyes of his with a smile.

"You bet." Light nodded and sat up, rolling off the detective and slumping onto the floor beside the couch. "Because having a party with just four people is going to be swell."

"Is that sarcasm? I assume so because Miss Amane will do nothing but flirt and spoon you the entire time."

Light was momentarily frightened. _Spoon?_ Had L messed up his Japanese? Had he even heard correctly...?

The detective confirmed Light's thoughts by saying, "It is English slang for...cuddling."

"Oh. Well, you're right then."

"I propose a plan."

"Huh?"

Looking up, he saw L rolling over on the couch to lie on his back, his hair splaying about him and a playful smirk on his face. "We shall get her as drunk as a dancing bear and then lock her in our cupboard for the night. What do you say?"

"What if we forget about her the next morning though?"

"Oh come now. She will not be missed."

Light laughed again, but became quiet when he felt something brushing its way through his hair. He looked up to see L straining his long fingers through the teen's amber locks with a contented look on his face.

It was almost, as if for just a moment, that L had forgotten that Light was under suspicion of being the greatest mass murderer in the history of mankind.

And just for a moment, it felt nice for him also_. He found he wanted to return the favour._

He leant up, and gently placed his hand over the detective's own, an action which, though strange in itself, made the detective still, and their eyes met.

Those eyes that buried into him, unearthing emotions stilled prior to the event. Emotions that flared, and for a moment it denied all sense of logic as he leaned up to place his lips on his.

But the connection was never made as they suddenly heard the sound of footsteps, and Watari's voice as he declared, "Your beverages, gentlemen."

Light immediately came over, clearing his throat and gingerly taking the cup, sipping it quickly.

L was slower to react, and sluggishly rose, the aftermath of what had almost happened slowly sinking in, causing flames to flare up inside his chest.

They drank their tea in another silence, until Watari said quietly, "I hope I wasn't interrupting anything important."

Light was about to react with an embarrassed gurgle, but L raised a hand. "No, it's quite fine. Nothing important was happening anyway."

And then he waved a hand, promptly dismissing the older man as he drained the contents from his cup swiftly.

As soon as he left, Light was about to turn and continue to put up even more decorations, but was stopped when he felt something grab a hold of his cuffed wrist.

He was suddenly pulled close to the detective, and felt L's lips gently close around his own, momentarily stunning him.

Beneath their feet, Delilah barked, merrily wagging her tail and basking in the loving moment of her two masters.

As suddenly as the moment arrived, however, L pulled away, and whispered in his accomplice's ear, "Definitely not homosexual."

And then he continued to place decorations around, spreading the Halloween morbidity and acting like nothing had just happened.

Light still stood there, until he snapped back to his senses as L placed another thumbtack in his hand.

"Hop to it, Skeleton Jack."

"...R-Right."

_'This is Halloween, This is Halloween...~!'_

The music droned on in the background, a little too loudly for L's taste. Under the cat ears fixed on a headband on his head, and the ridiculous cat one-suit he had been forced to wear, he actually found he was enjoying himself. Standing next to him, not a single sentence ripe from his mouth ever since the kiss earlier on that afternoon, Light was dressed as a pirate, wooden leg and the parrot to go.

Too bad the parrot wasn't real. It really looked like the teen needed someone to talk him out of his stiffened stupor.

_Ah. He had just the trick._

He tapped the teen on the shoulder, causing him to jump a little as he turned to L, his eyes widened slightly.

L held out a small wineglass, filled halfway with sake. "Here you go. You look like you could use a pick-me-up." Oh, how good he was getting at this party slang.

"Uh, no thanks." Light declined, turning with his back again to the older man.

_Well, that had failed_. L scowled and downed the contents instead, regretting it almost instantly as the bitter substance almost burned his mouth.

"Bleh." He muttered and placed the cup down on a nearby table. The room was lit in hues of ghastly purple, mystic blue and crimson red from the lights above, and small flecks of a silvery sort came from a small disco ball above their heads.

Furniture had been pushed aside to make room for a dance-floor, where a sailor Matsuda was strutting his stuff.

Sitting down on a couch was a devil Misa, Delilah curled up on her lap (a small pompom headband on her head).

When Misa spotted Light, she waved rather deviously and sent a kiss his way, causing the teen to fidget uncomfortably.

L placed a beetle-shaped chocolate in his mouth as the skimpily-dressed blonde made her way over, still holding the pug in her arms.

"Light! Come dance with me!"

"No tha-" But the teen couldn't disagree as he was promptly pulled and shoved at the same time until he was standing beside his 'girlfriend', who had begun to swivel her hips rather sexily to gain his attention.

Matsuda whistled loudly, while L stood as far away as the handcuffs would allow, rolling his eyes in disgust.

He then looked back at his company, and his eyes widened as he noticed something a little..._drastic_.

Through those fishnet stockings, Misa really did have a...fine ass, as today's youth normally put it.

Light must've spotted the detective staring (_even though he had really tried to make it subtle_), because the next thing he knew his wrist was tugged, but he was pulled in the direction he didn't want to go.

He stumbled over to the trio, now making a troupe, and stood there awkwardly as the rest of them danced.

Instead of joining in, and making sure his eyes didn't linger once more, he decided to observe them instead.

Matsuda really was going full out, strutting back and forth, flicking his head in time to the music and spinning in rhythm, ducking to the floor before sliding back up again, dragging his fingers up his body as he went.

It was a little bit freaky.

Misa was doing something similar to Matsuda, which gave L the conclusion that the rookie was in fact dancing very..._femininely_. The blonde came over and placed her arms around Light's neck, pulling him close and grinding up against him. Such an action received another cheer from the sailor, and Misa giggled, running her hands through Light's hair as she went.

L groaned. _Why the hell had he invited the girl anyway?_

...Because it would have been awkward with just the three males (if one didn't count Delilah).

At the thought, he bent down to pick up his canine friend, and bobbed up and down with her in his arms.

Delilah barked loudly and squirmed up to lick L's face. This was her own way of acting like an Amane, just doggy style. _Much more attractive than an imbecile._

To make him eat his own words though, Misa came over and began to dance next to him with an enthusiastic laugh.

Light grinned and clapped his hands in time, and L flushed in embarrassment. He scratched the back of his head and placed Delilah back down on the floor, before taking Misa's outstretched hands.

"It's not that bad, y'know, Ryuzaki. Come on, just let go!" Misa flashed a pretty and warm smile and began to move their arms, guiding L along with the music.

L stepped in time, and smiled as he did so. _He actually wasn't that bad..._

Misa spun him suddenly, and laughed as he stumbled on the spot before falling back on his behind, causing Light to laugh also.

There was a moment as the blonde whispered in the teen's ear, looking at him with wide eyes.

Light rubbed the back of his neck nervously, before gritting his teeth and pulling the detective to his feet again, taking his hands and beginning to dance with him.

L blinked in surprise as they turned on the spot, and Light clapped once as a sudden loud thud echoed from the speakers. L began to mimic his moves, moving in time to the song as the song began to reach its peak. The chorus came, and Light jumped suddenly, causing L to be caught off guard and he jumped a second too late.

_"It's as easy as 1, 2, 3._

_Do you see what I do?_

_Truth or Dare yes I double dare you._

_You, you me, now I think you got it,_

_One last breath and just spin the bottle now._

_(You know you don't need to be so worried, even though, below, I'm still thinking about it)_

_1, 2, 3 and I double dare me as well._

_Truth, Dare._

_(Dirty little secret, dirty little secret)_

_This will be our little…_

_(Dirty little secret, dirty little secret)_

_This will be our little…~"_

He found that decoding the teen's dance-moves was the most fun he had been having since the party had started, and very soon it turned into a competition.

L had caught on very quickly, and had begun to make up his own steps, of which were beginning to confuse Light a little. Misa cheered and clapped as the dancing reached a peak, because both men were surprisingly swift when it came to their footwork.

As soon as the song ended, L and Light backed away from each other, and L turned, dragging Light over to the buffet table.

As such, they seemed to be a necessity at every social convention.

"Well, that was fun." Light shouted as the next track played, and finally took a sip of that sake.

L didn't bother to look up at him, instead musing over which sweet he should pick next. "Indeed. Feeling better?"

"What?"

"I said, _FEELING BETTER?_" The detective lifted his head and shouted right into the teen's face, smiling rather cockily as he popped a lemon sherbet into his mouth.

He went to pop another one in, but was suddenly stopped as he felt a hand grab his wrist, and the next moment he knew he was shoved against a wall and out of sight of everyone else. Even the music seemed quiet in this secluded little corner.

He looked up into the teen's eyes, his arms pinned above his head as Light held him tightly.

"You..._are an ass_."

"You have stated this before." L retained a perfectly calm composure; however he could practically feel his heart almost bursting out of his chest from the moment, though he wasn't sure what emotion fuelled that resolve.

"What the hell was that before?"

"Dancing. A form of moving your body in time to a ballad or musical tune, and has been included in many cultures around the world. Did you know that it dates back to-"

"Stop being such a smartmouth. I meant..."

"_The kiss_."

Light snapped back to attention immediately, a curious and almost intimidating look in his amber eyes. "Yeah. I mean, _what the fuck_."

"I could ask the same about you."

There was a silenced fortune for about two seconds, until L started again. "You have asked that about every one we've had."

"No I haven't!"

"No need to be insecure, you're actually very good at it."

"Very good...?" He tried to hide the blush on his cheeks as he shoved L a little harder into the wall, gritting his teeth in irritation. "Whatever. Why did you do it?"

"Because I felt like it."

"And that means...?"

"Light." L began, and shoved the teen away, brushing himself down and straightening his cat ears once again. "It means absolutely nothing. Were you hoping for something else? Perhaps an emotional response so you can get a leg up in our little competition?"

"Our what?"

L sighed in annoyance. "Do you not remember, a couple of months back, when we started this agreement? I stated that it would be beneficial to the both of us in the fact that we could see the emotional sides to us? Though that proposal is strange in itself, you know very well that it is true. You are fascinated with me."

"That means you're fascinated with me though...!"

"Precisely. Now, back to the topic at hand...I simply felt like it. It's a nice gesture, you know. It feels very nice indeed."

Light's head was spinning. He was trying hard to comprehend one, two...no, _five concepts at once!_

He actually didn't think that the whole 'wanting to see the emotional side of things' was an actual part of the agreement, whatever agreement they had made in the first place.

If L wanted to kiss him...did that in fact make him _gay_? _He could use that against him later_. But it would make living with him a whole lot more _awkward._

What if the kisses were just spurred from the tension that the handcuffs held between them? The solution was simple then. They could just take them off-_Oh wait, no._ Of course not. The whole Kira suspicion just had to complicate things, didn't it?

They should just stop kissing then..._But it wasn't like they had been doing it frequently though_! And what if it came up, that tension...? What if they couldn't control themselves?

_Did that make him gay?_ ...Hell no! That was _disgusting_! Especially with that damned detective...

At the thought he turned to see the older man staring at him as he battled his own thoughts.

Damn it. The guy pissed him off so much...Not to mention it was creepy the way he would stare.

Standing like that, with his thumb in his mouth and that completely blank expression.

It looked stupid. ...And kind of funny...And a little bit cute.

_...Damn it._

Light groaned and ran a hand through his hair. He should've just left it. Now that it was out in the open...

"Are you thinking of even more ways we could interact as such?" L suddenly said with a very curious smile.

"What the hell...No! Ryuzaki, you're such a pervert!"

"I'm sure you love it. Now, I accept your apology for pushing me into a wall, as the party awaits."

Without another word, L pulled him back into the living room, where Misa and Matsuda were ironically dancing 'The Chicken Dance' rather happily.

Light and L stood nearby, lost in their own thoughts.

Meanwhile, Delilah sat and watched the humans around her. She curiously lifted her nose to the air and sniffed; the scent of chocolate, alcohol and fried bacon reaching her nose.

She wagged her tail slightly. What could she do now? The female was too busy with the stupid one, and mama and papa looked too bored to notice their own little girl was at her wit's end.

She had to do something to save the party. It was losing its spark. And then she got a brilliant idea.

She should chase her tail, though she knew she would never catch it.

_And that is exactly what she did._

_.:HeartBeats:._

The party progressed on smoothly into the night. Once dancing had lost its edge, they pulled out a bunch of board games instead.

Light had won at Monopoly, while Matsuda won at Snakes and Ladders through pure luck.

Surprisingly, L won at the game of Twister. He never knew he could be so flexible.

Misa didn't win at anything.

A large vanilla and chocolate cake had been carried out by Watari, who was dressed as a ghost to suit the occasion, and the entire thing almost made it feel like a birthday party of some sort.

Which got Light thinking. Would they celebrate every sort of holiday celebration like this? It would be nice...But he didn't know how many parties he could handle. He barely went to any when he attended high-school anyway.

Truth or Dare had been sort of a disaster, with shots of alcohol being taken when a dare couldn't be undertaken or a truth couldn't be told.

As such, Misa had passed out on the floor and Matsuda was singing karaoke, half-drunk, in a lonely little corner near the dance floor.

This left L and Light left to play, and the two were still seated upright, a bottle sitting in between them.

Light's parrot, eye-patch and wooden leg had been abandoned nearby, while the only part of the costume L was left wearing was the ears. He was seated in his usual shirt and jeans, ready to take another shot if necessary.

At first, he denied taking in any part of such a ridiculous game. He was keen on keeping himself from consuming as much alcohol as he could. However, his mind had been swayed at the chance to express his thirst for knowledge. The rules of the game stated that a truth had to be told or a drink in its stead. The thought excited him beyond no ends.

In fact, he felt a little tipsy then. _Was he drunk...?_

Despite the foggy haze in his mind, he also thought the game had been a good chance to try and smuggle a confession out of the teen. He just had to wait until he was a little bit more intoxicated.

"Alright, your turn." Light smirked, swaying slightly on the spot with a little, stupid smile on his face. It seemed as if the teen had drunk just a little too much also.

"Truth or dare?" L's voice was a little slurred, but at least he was able to retain his composure.

"Um...Dare."

"I dare Light-Kun to shove this pineapple chew up Misa Amane's nose." The detective grinned at his own wit, and handed Light one of the many yellow sweets scattered about the floor.

Light crawled over and did as told, stifling a loud chuckle as the blonde snorted to the presence blocking one of her airways, but nonetheless she settled back into her drunken sleep.

Light sat back down, and regarded the older man with a sly smile. "Truth or dare?"

"Hmm...Truth."

"Oh, should be fun. Ryuzaki...Why do you call yourself that? It's obviously an alias, but where did it come from?"

The question caught L off guard. He turned and stared at the teen with a look that almost said, _'Why the hell would you ask that?'_

"You alright...?" Light tilted his head a little in concern, and leaned closer, but L shrugged him off and mumbled, "It belonged to an old colleague of mine. However...he turned to a life of crime, and when he was arrested, I took up his title. It's merely a name. Nothing else."

Now _this _was interesting.

"Oh...What did he do?"

"He was behind a string of gruesome murders known as the Los Angeles Beyond Birthday Murder Cases. However, he died after a year in prison. I can only assume he was killed by Kira."

"Oh." Light fell silent, not sure how to take such information. "Sorry to hear that."

"Well yes, but what can you do in such a world? Nonetheless...truth or dare again, Light-Kun? ...Light?"

"Hmm? Oh, I dunno...Truth."

L smiled a little, and leaned a little closer. "Well alright. Tell me honestly..."

"..."

L's voice was barely above a whisper, more like a murmur than anything else. "Do you like it when I kiss you?"

"W-W-What...-"

"You heard me, Light-Kun."

Even though he was a little bit drunk, Light found that the question in itself startled him quite profoundly. He thought that just before they had just agreed to cut it off...

No wait. They hadn't said a word...It was Light's own thoughts, he remembered now...

Beneath it all, he found that his gut instinct wanted him to scream just one answer.

"Well?"

But his morality denied it. As did his mind.

"Yes."

L leaned just a little closer. "Excellent...And, if I asked, would you kiss me right now?"

_Say no...Say no!_

"Yes..."

"May I?"

Without so much as a nod, their lips were locked again, and they knocked over the bottle in their synchronised attempt at satisfying the burning desire in their stomachs. To be frightfully honest, this was terrifying to the both of them; the notion of stepping over that thin line and into the world of taboo guiltily clawed at their morality. But no matter how many times this was stated, the excitement and thrill of the touch urged them on and on, and each and every time they fell head over heels into this trap.

A loud and familiar bark ripped them from the moment, however, and they both turned away, flushing from what could have been the alcohol or the pleasure. L, instead, knowing that this was better off being unsaid, focussed his attention on their dog.

Delilah was seated at the window, her bug eyes wide and reflected off the large square balcony door. Another flicker of his gaze and he was met with a serenity of white, falling from the sky.

_It had begun to snow._

…"_Happy birthday to me, from beyond the grave…"_

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><p><strong>Yeah, abrupt but very peaceful ending. I happen to love how I just finished that. IT NEEDED TO BE FINISHED ANYWAYS *burning eyes*<strong>

**R&R, if you managed to make your way through that long long chapter. Also, can anyone guess why L was so pissed? The reason shall be revealed in the next chapter, but if you guess the EXACT reason, I shall give you a mention or I'll message you and you can actually help me in the next chapter :3**

**Ps: Thanks a lot to my American buddy Ed for helping me with the overall plotline. This one is dedicated to you~ ^^ 3**

**MORE WORDS THAN THE LAST CHAPTER WHOO I AM ON A ROLL.**


	13. Chapter 13: Snow White Angel

**AN: Writing this helps to calm my nerves, I suppose. The holidays have come quickly here, and I started early because I'm moving back down to my old town from the years I actually began this fanfic! It's really awesome, and it means hopefully I'm updating more frequently now :D**

**Well, here's to surviving 2012 the apocalypse, Christmas and New Years guys. Warning, this chapter contains a little more fluff than some of the other chapters (that are filled with quite a lot of angst xD) Blerp. This one will be easy to write because it's more of a filler than an actual plotline development, I suppose. I've got a rough idea in my head as to how it's going to be set up, but like always I'll just go with the general idea and see how it turns out.**

**Disclaimer: Death Note doesn't belong to me. This fanfic is just for entertainment purposes, and in no way do I wish to claim the original source to be mine, and neither do I hope to make any profit from this. It makes no sense, actually :'D**

**PS: L AND LIGHT WILL ALWAYS BE MINE THOUGH FFFFFFFFFFTTTTTTTTT**

**Enjoy~! ^^**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 13, Snow White Angel<strong>

The atmosphere was pure, yet chilling, just as the winter air was expected to be. Here Light stood, on the outside of the Task Force building, a soggy ball in hand.

Delilah was seated nearby, her tongue lolling out of the side of her mouth and an anticipated look in her large black eyes. Not really Light's idea of fun. "Go get it." He muttered blankly and tossed the ball as far as he could, sending the little puppy in a spur through the snow.

Halfway towards the ball, however, she sunk completely beneath the surface, whimpering quite sadly as she drowned beneath suffocating and freezing white blankets that had fallen the night before. It was rather depressing, actually; much like the scene from The Neverending Story where the boy's horse slowly sunk to its doom.

Instantly reminded of such a thing, Light dreaded his own demise if L were to find out about this. Fuelled with the instinct to survive, he zoomed after the pug, almost tripping over his own feet as he went. He picked her up, seemingly now calm, out of the snow, and gingerly wiped her dry.

"There there. Stupid dog."

"What did I just hear come from your mouth?"

He cringed. Man, sometimes the guy sounded like his mother.

He spun on his heels and held Delilah out to L like an offering. "Uh here, she's yours, isn't she?" He remarked sarcastically. L gently took his beloved dog from his nemesis's arms, brushing out a few remnants of snow from her soggy fur. "She's both of ours, Light-kun." He stated matter-of-factly, placing her back down, but carefully this time.

"Not too far, Delilah-chan." He chorused and Delilah sped off once again, searching frantically for the ball but this time more carefully. "And that goes the same for you as well." The detective turned on his heel and pointed a finger at Light almost accusingly.

The teen knew he had to do exactly as he was told, or he could very well risk confinement once again. They had agreed, just for this merry little outing, that the handcuffs were to be removed, however the detective had to keep a stern eye on him at almost all times.

Even if he was grateful for the freedom, it still unnerved and frankly annoyed Light to be watched at all times. And then there was…

"It may not look like it, but I can assure you, underneath that trenchcoat, Watari is holding a shotgun. If I had my way, it'd be off with your head in an instant."

Just as said, the old gentleman was standing only a few feet away, a completely plain look on his face as he observed the two quietly. To any normal passerby, he seemed just as calm and friendly as any old man. But Light frankly knew better.

To become the world's greatest detective's bodyguard and guardian, he knew Watari must be trained in all sorts of areas, and that meant that he didn't just handle a gun. He shivered nervously as Watari caught his eye, and when the elderly man raised a hand to wave, he sheepishly waved back, before shoving his hands into his pockets and swivelling around quickly to turn back to L.

What he was met with at first perplexed him, but then he almost doubled over laughing. L was busy pushing small black rocks into the face of a snowman he had preoccupied himself with making. It stared back blankly with no eyes set in place, and the carrot that was placed awkwardly for its nose was already beginning to frost over.

It seemed so childish and innocent that Light's insecurities were washed away almost immediately, albeit momentarily. He then went back to scowling, before he heard L say, "Light-kun, hand me your scarf, please."

It wasn't a demand, more of an enquiry, but Light decided to hold his ground at that point in time, and instead asked, "What for?"

"To decorate the snowman, of course."

Oh.

"Well, it's too cold."

"Why must you be unnecessarily irritating? It was a simple request. I'm sure you can do without it for today."

"Why don't you use your own then?"

A moment of strained silence followed. "…Because I need mine."

"That's contradictory and selfish. Ryuzaki, you should know better." However, nothing could stop the teen from giving a credited smirk. After all, the detective really didn't consider anything past his own debut.

"…Fine." The black haired man finally said, and pouted slightly as he pulled his own scarf from his neck and wrapped it around the snowman. Well, that was unexpected. Light wondered what brought it on?

"I made this for you."

"Huh?"

"This snowman was supposed to resemble Light-kun. Your own scarf would have made it perfect." L explained, with his back facing Light. The teen was perplexed. It was a nice gesture, he supposed, but really?

L, of all people, had tried to make a snowman for him? It was a strange thing to do, but somehow, it made him smile. He laughed and came up behind the detective, ruffling his spiky hair rather affectionately.

"That's weird…But thanks, I guess."

"You're welcome…" L muttered, staring blankly at the snow. Was he…flushed? As if embarrassed by the younger man saying such a thing?

"But seriously…That doesn't look like me at all. No way."

"I know."

"It looks more like Misa."

The detective's eyes widened and he snapped his head back to attention, rather alarmed at such a statement. "It really looks that hideous?" He exclaimed, holding the sides of his head as if he was in agony.

"Yeah. You haven't really got any artistic talent, have you?"

"It's snow. What do you expect me to do?"

"Give it boobs or something."

"…Wha-"

"If you want to make it look like Misa, I mean." Light quickly sealed the subject by glancing about awkwardly, before picking up a handful of snow and patting with it in his hands. He produced a sphere and held it up at eye level so the detective could see.

"Are you making breasts for it now?" L's interest was piqued, however his resolve was rather disturbed.

"What? No! Hell no! That's just weird! I mean, it's a snowball."

"Oh."

"Do you know what that means?"

"…You'll complete the snowman by giving him testicles?"

With a heavy sigh, he slammed the snowball down onto L's head with added force, causing the older man to stumble backwards into the snow. L immediately reacted with a kick to the shin, and Light came down, landing next to him with the air knocked out of him. "What was that for!?" They both cried at the same time, before looking at one another with confusion.

Light was the first and last to answer. "I declare…" He got to his feet rather quickly. "A snowball fight!" He then took off, running at a steady pace until he was just short of about ten feet from the fallen man. "Come and accept the challenge if you dare!"

L scowled, pulling himself up and brushing himself down. "The world's greatest detective never refuses a challenge." He muttered, before scouting about for a suitable fort.

Light, meanwhile, was crouched behind a tree, supplying himself with ammo just in case of an attack. He peered out from behind the trunk, narrowly missing a pelt to the face that seemingly came out of nowhere. Holy crap, L was a good shot.

He took a deep breath, before picking up a handful and throwing them in the direction he believed the attacking snowball had come from. He heard a strained, "Ooph!" indicating the target had been hit, and stepped out, a little more confident this time.

He ran towards the source of the noise, only to feel something hit his shoulder. This didn't stop the teen, however, and he continued to plough on through the snow, narrowly avoiding the other shots but occasionally getting hit wherever it was fired. When he finally reached L, the detective rolled out of the way and began to dash, but was knocked off his feet as Light threw with all his might. It hit him in the back of the head and he went down with a groan, leaving the younger man to laugh.

"That was so funny! Did you see your face? I should've filmed it!"

"Light-Kun…"

"It was all like, one of those funny ones that if you played in slow motion you'd leave the audience pissing their pants or something! You looked like a squirrel on drugs!" He chortled, clutching his sides as the sound echoed.

He wasn't prepared as he was suddenly tackled into the snow, and pinned down rather hard. His laughing immediately ceased, but started up again once he saw L leaning close. This time however, it was more of an evil chuckle. "Idiot! You can't handle a little joke so you have to tackle me? Ahahaha-"

"More of a reactionary instance, Light-Kun, but not entirely true. It was your laugh that annoyed me."

"Wait what?"

"Your laugh is rather loud and agitating, if I do say so myself!" L chuckled and batted him on the side of the head gently. Light shook his head and waited for the laughing to cease, before sitting up and stretching slightly.

L remained on his lap momentarily, before rolling over onto his back into the snow. "Light-Kun…" He mused, tugging on the teen's arm. The younger of the two turned his head to look down at him, and widened his eyes slightly as he began to make awkward, sweeping motions in the snow.

"What're you…?" He began to ask, but was silenced as L rolled over in the other direction, leaving his imprint in the snow. "It's a snow angel, Light-Kun, and having fallen from the sky, it now rests amongst the snow and awaits for death."

"Poetic." Light muttered, standing up and brushing himself down. "And you caused it to die."

"How on earth so?"

"By squishing it with your body."

"Angels surely aren't that delicate."

"Well, who would know, right? Idiot." Light pulled L up and out of the snow by the collar of his jacket, and brushed him down quickly. The detective stretched, and looked up as the snow fell, his obsidian eyes filling with curiosity.

"The workings of this world are truly marvellous, are they not?" He tilted his head, asking the teen, and Light crossed his arms. "It's really just science, you know. No need to be all fantastical about it."

"Oh, but I'm not. It's honestly what I think."

"Well doesn't everyone…?"

"Light." L began, shifting his position and placing his hands into his pockets. "Do you remember, about a week or so ago when I explained that if the world were to change, then something as simple as a sunrise would only be taken for granted?"

Light frowned. "Because of the fear Kira brings, right?"

"Exactly." A small snowflake dropped down onto his cheek, and he wiped it away absentmindedly. "How we, as the human race, conform due to the pressure of a dramatic change. It would make us all very cold, fearful and savage individuals. Whether Kira, at first, envisioned a perfect world where everyone would do good, he forgot to consider the fact that he himself may disintegrate, until Kira was the only bad thing left in the world."

"But then wouldn't that be a sacrifice for the greater good? Not that I condone what he's doing, but you have to consider the possibility."

"Well, then a perfect world wouldn't be achievable, because evil would still taint its edges in the mind of its God."

"What are you getting at though? I get the picture that you really want to catch him that badly, but why bring it up now?" Light was a little confused, seeing as the atmosphere was a little too merry to be talking about such things. Then again, isn't that what their life revolved around most of the time anyway?

"We will become as cold as snow. Even so, in some ways we already are. And in some ways, I truly believe Kira wouldn't change the world for some."

"Because they're already evil…?"

"No, because they are already self-absorbed; obsessed with themselves and what they can give to the world."

Light smirked. "Yeah, but sometimes what they want to give to the world is the best thing, right? Some people who are self-absorbed only want to contribute to the way society runs. That isn't so bad."

"It really is quite bad if they never stop to smell the roses, per-say; in that, simple things such as the snow, and family gatherings and the sunrise are taken for granted anyway in everyday life. In that, they really won't be able to find peace, will they?"

"Except in death."

"Except Kira wants his victims to suffer."

"Except people wouldn't have to suffer if-"

"They are granted a chance to find peace in this life before passing onto the next."

"And you're saying…that they won't be able to find that peace by living in fear? That they won't stop to 'smell the roses' as you put it, if Kira changes the world?"

"…Yes, exactly that." L turned to look at Light, his gaze shifting over his features as if he was trying to pick up any sense of hostility within them.

Light was silent for a moment, smiling at the small breakthrough on the current situation that only fuelled the case's resolve. But when another truth appeared, he went back to frowning.

"Ryuzaki…The world, and the people…We keep on moving forward anyway. Sooner or later, we all become enveloped within ourselves. Sooner or later, there really is no turning back, right?"

"Wrong."

As Light turned to walk back the way they had come, what L said next surprised him.

"Ever since I was a young boy…"

"…?" Light turned back to the detective, who was looking down at the ground with a rather blank stare.

"Ever since I was a young boy, I have been one of those selfish people. I worked my entire life to shape who I was so I could become better for the world, to become L, but in reality, when I think I was contributing, which I have now so do not get me wrong, I disregarded everything else.

I'm not contradicting myself from what I said before, however…you are the same."

Light went rigid.

"You have been working your entire life to impress everyone else, and to make a name for yourself. You want to become a detective and here you are, working on perhaps the greatest case this world has ever known, alongside the world's greatest detective. You've had to endure quite the, uh, debilitating task of being chained to someone as difficult as me..."

"Spit it out already…?" Light's voice was quieter than usual.

"Well, you haven't really seen the world for what it really is either, have you? You haven't taken in the little things as much as you would like to, and-"

"Ryuzaki, you shouldn't talk like you know me. You don't really have any right…"

"True." L smiled, a little sullenly, and looked back up at the teen with a rather amused gaze. "I apologize. However, may I tell you something that might shine some light onto the current situation?"

Light was inclined to listen anyways, and in all honesty his interest was rather bright. L was…

"I also apologize if this sounds a little…strange, but recently, with all of the activities we have been participating in; I really do feel more peaceful, despite the erratic situations we may end up in. It's…fun, I suppose, being with you like this."

Light's gaze softened, and he felt his heart skip a beat. But it was a moment fleeting, and he playfully ruffled the detective's hair with a laugh. "You weirdo. Don't make it out to be so cliché. That's kind of how being friends feels…just less mushy."

"Ah…Truly?"

"Yeah."

L smiled only slightly. "Does…this make us friends now?"

"…I guess so."

As they began to walk back to Watari, L pinched Light's shoulder. "Ow, hey! What was that for?"

"I thought I should just let you know, that I still suspect you of being Kira, and friendship really doesn't change anything."

"…Douchebag."

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><p><strong>I honestly had no idea how to end that, and it could've ended better and I was torn between whether or not L should say that and I'm sorry if it's a little OOC but hey, whaddaya gonna do? *shrugs*<strong>

**R&R? And no flames please –w-;**


	14. Chapter 14: Sickly Urges

**AN: Well hello everyone! Wow it's been, what, two years or something? Hmm, so the other day I managed to find bits and pieces of this chapter scattered about on my various electronic devices XD**

**In my absence, I've been focussing mainly on my Ib fanfic and various Pokemon ones I have ideas for, so this slipped to the back of my mind. Oh well, here is the next chapter. My goal is to finish this as fast as I can, but I can't say I'll be quick to update. Summer holidays are coming up, however, so we might just get somewhere!**

**It's nice to be back!**

**~Tkb4.**

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><p><span><strong>Chapter 14, Sickly Urges<strong>

"This is humiliating, Light-Kun…"

"Not as humiliating as being handcuffed to you. Now hold still…"

L was anxious. Such it was an action that he had never tried, and despite being nerve-wracking, his intensive pride helped him to stand his ground. To put one of those…_things _into his mouth…Was it going to hurt? What if it was too warm for his liking? What if…

"Ryuzaki, stop looking at me like that. I know it's not what you prefer, but…"

"I don't trust you."

"Would you prefer _Misa _or something then? She hasn't even got a clue-"

"I'd prefer Watari, thank you very much…But as you know…"

"Yeah you don't need to tell me twice."

L swallowed his contempt and looked Light in the eyes, opening his mouth only slightly.

"Ready?" Light uttered, leaning over L's curled up form.

"…Yes." There was a moment of hesitation.

"1, 2…"

The thermometer was cold against his tongue, and he shuddered at its touch. He had made sure it was freshly brought from the chemist, and afterwards it had to be cleaned, free of germs and in a tub of hot water and disinfectant.

It was a rather debilitating and annoying task for Light, but the older man wouldn't have it any other way. The detective had to make sure it was free of germs completely. If he took in anything else, then his cold would surely get worse.

"Crap Ryuzaki, you have a fever…"

"Oh my lord…Am…Am I going to die?"

Light nodded, the fake pain evident on his face. "Slowly and in the worst way possible. You're beyond saving…"

"Oh my god, Light-Kun! You cannot be serious?!"

The teen laughed. "Calm down, idiot. You'll be fine. You'll just have to stay in bed for a couple of days, and then you'll be back on your feet in no time." L's lack of knowledge about a simple cold struck him as peculiar, but he put the thought aside.

"How on earth could this happen? I'm always very careful about my health…" Light wasn't sure of that. After all, L didn't watch what he ate, hardly ever went outside and had Watari do everything else for him.

And then it clicked. L didn't think it important to consider the possibility of catching a cold; it was like he had taken very subtle precautions. And because he hardly ever worked in the field and never met people face to face, the percentage of catching a disease of any sort was almost nothing short of zero. But had L really never experienced being sick in his entire life?

_What a superman._

That was, until recently. It was another thing to add onto his list of L's vulnerabilities. But just like every other time, there was _always _a catch.

"Ah, shit." Light muttered, gritting his teeth in irritation.

L grinned. "Yes Light-Kun, you can be my personal…chauffeur, or even butler, of sorts. After all, you aren't going anywhere without me."

"I am NOT wheeling you around like a chauffeur."

"Wheeling? Oh, no, not that. You can carry me instead."

"Go fuck yourself."

"Perhaps you can do that for me as well?"

The sudden image of Light in a maid outfit surrounded by sparkles and stars (very much like one of the scenes one would find in a shoujo anime) came to mind, and the teen shook his head in disgust.

"Misa can do that too."

"…Do what?" L tilted his head in curiosity, but Light brushed it aside. "Eh, nevermind. Anyway, I asked Matsuda if he could come up here with the medicine you need."

"…I can't swallow tablets."

_Everything _was just a problem with the older man now, wasn't it?

But Light had thought it over beforehand, surprisingly and considering the possibility, and he smiled. "No sweat, we got you two different types just in case that happened. You know, liquid too."

"…Medicine tastes disgusting."

"We got it in different flavours, so you can pick any that you like." What a victory. For once, Light had thought ahead through everything before the older man.

But even complete defiance could seal the deal in some situations, and for L, this was one of those times. He sat up like a rather imprudent child, crossing his arms and glaring at the teen with a vile look in his narrowed black eyes. "I will _not _take that medicine."

_What a stubborn bastard. _"You need it to get better, idiot."

"Light-Kun, I will _never ever_ take that medicine. And that is my final word."

…Well that was it. Light couldn't just force it upon him…

Could he?

"I wouldn't." L begun, sniffling slightly. "I know what you're thinking."

Light scowled and hunched his shoulders. "As if. I wasn't going to touch you."

"Whoever said anything about touching?"

"Regardless, you don't know what I'm thinking, so you're wrong."

L chuckled slightly. "Ohoho, no, I'm not. You're very easy to read."

"That doesn't make you psychic." Light rolled his eyes. Would he have to endure this for the entire day?

"See!" The older man sat up, however the movement made his head spin, and he shakily pointed a finger at the younger. "There you go again! Your actions are very precise and accurate, enough so that your mood can be easily depicted."

"Picked up by you, is all. I'm not as active as you say I am." The teen stood, stretching his arms slightly, and smiling as he heard a satisfied pop from his shoulder.

"So you agree, then, that my people-reading skills are far superior than yours? Than you, who has spent almost his entire life around other human beings?" With Light's annoyed respite, L smugly grinned. He had caught him there. Oh how fun the day was going to be.

"Whatever. Stop changing the subject. You still need your medicine." The teen picked it up again, but L whacked it from his hands, laughing when Light failed to catch it frantically. It landed and span around on the floor, forcing another irritated gurgle from the teen.

"Idiot! The bottle is glass! It could've smashed!"

"Yes, I know." L tapped his nose. "But who is the real enemy here?"

Light's lips set back into a thin line. He swore, if the detective said one more word…

"Just shut up and take it!"

"No."

"NOW."

"…_No._"

When L went to knock the bottle from his hands again, Light was just a split-second quicker. He pushed the detective's arms above his head and half-straddled L, just to hold him in place. They looked each other in the eye for a moment or two, before the older man squirmed, but Light's grip held him in place.

"…Done yet?"

L glared, with all the venom he could muster. "_Never."_

"You're uncooperative, but you have guts. That's an admirable trait in a human being. Perhaps you should apply that into making friends."

"You're callous and mean. Perhaps you should take a lesson in 'making friends', and consider this. If I do take the medicine… what if I'm allergic? What if I swell up? My impending death would be on your shoulders, and you would have to carry that burden everywhere you went."

"You lie. And why would I even care about that?"

L's face was completely blank, and there was a moment of silence.

"Callous and mean indeed…"

The gravity of what Light had just said hit him in the face, but he merely looked away rather stubbornly. What was said couldn't be unsaid.

"…Maybe you should look in a mirror." He muttered, swallowing the pang of guilt rising in his chest.

L however, simply laughed, looking to the side also. He smiled a little, trying to hide an unidentified emotion evident in his eyes. "But what if I prefer looking at you instead?"

Light was completely caught off guard, and a very clear blush spread across his cheeks. He grit his teeth and went to force the detective down harder, but couldn't save himself from being flipped over onto his back on the bed. L had taken the chance to become dominant once more, and he mimicked Light's previous actions, keeping him under a steady hold.

"See?" He whispered, leaning close and grinning. "You are very easy to read."

"…Y-You-"

There was suddenly a large bang.

"LIIIIGGHHHTTTT!"

"Hey guys! We just-HOLY CRAP WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

At that very moment, Matsuda and Misa had conveniently walked in to witness such a scene. Amane took it, as usual, as an indifferent cue that Light turned to when she wasn't there to give him enough physical attention. It fuelled her madonna resolve, and put the idea inside of her mind that she only had to spend more and more time with him, much to Light's unrealistic behest.

Matsuda's own thoughts, on the other hand, were in a whirl, and the rookie detective couldn't figure out why he was blushing. The image of two fully grown men in such a position, even more so that these were his _work colleagues_, he found turned him on in the slightest way.

As L and Light broke quickly from one another before Misa could see, she burst into the room, knocking Matsuda to the side. "We brought you flowers. Well, at least I did. Matsui here just came along for the ride." She retorted, shoving the flowers into Light's face with a big smile.

_Light screwed his nose at the irony of receiving the flowers instead of L, but that was beside the point. Misa was more pushy than usual, L was sick in bed and now Matsuda had to join the party as well. Could his day get any worse?_

"Light-kun…pass me the bucket, would you? I feel rather-" A retching noise followed, along with Misa's screams of disgust. "RYUZAKI!"

_How could he have asked…?_

The day wore on and Light's behind had gone numb an hour before from sitting in that goddamned chair for so long. L had fallen off fast to sleep after vomiting, and Light had been the one to clean up the mess. Luckily, none of the contents had reached the carpet, so it was really just a matter of discarding sheets and trying not to retch himself at the sigh.

Now he sat in silence, his wristwatch reading 2pm. His stomach growled in distaste, but after having witnessed the disgusting scene before, he seemed to have lost his appetite altogether, resulting in his skipping of lunch (which he almost never did).

He was irritated, hungry, numb, fidgety, and just the slightest bit lonely. The insistent ticking motions on his wrist watch diverted his attention for that moment, and his amber eyes narrowed in boredom, studying the carefully etched numbers on the clock's face. L's soft breathing lulled him into a state of half-consciousness, and his eyes eventually began to close, subjecting him to the inner world of darkness. He wavered on the brink between consciousness and awakening, the hungry pangs in his stomach causing him to shift and stir slightly with every wave.

_Tick._

_Tick._

_Tick._

The noise was small, rhythmic, and he rocked his head lightly to the sound. His eyes had almost closed, blurring the image, when words suddenly flashed across his mind, accompanied by a monstrous silhouette.

"I'll put it in here…just in case. Because when the time comes, I'll most likely have to do it in front of L. After everything, that bastard probably won't stop tailing me. I need to improvise."

"Misa…you give your word that she won't get hurt?" The voice that followed his own was older, more mature and distinctly feminine.

"Of course. After all, I love Misa."

"Hyuk hyuk hyuk. You don't have to spin such crap. We know you don't really love that pathetic girl,"

"Watch it, you sack of disgusting-"

"You two fight like an old married couple…" Was that his own chuckle?

Oh god, it sounded so…

"Is that not purely a human term? We do not have marriage nor the need to breed. We just are."

"Ahhh shut up. If the God of the New World wants to play fantasy house wife, let him."

The silhouette flickered in his mind, and turned.

Staring straight at him were a pair of yellow, monstrous eyes, followed by a sardonic grin.

_He screamed._

"UWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH-"

"Light-kun! LIGHT-KUN!"

The sound of L's voice jolted him awake, and he snapped to attention immediately, looking about wildly.

He was still inside of their room, a now awake L standing over him, hands on both of his shoulders and with a curious, wide-eyed look.

Those eyes.

Light cried out again, beating L in the chest so hard that he gave a winded gasp, and tried to stand, but L was quick to react. He quickly pulled a knee up and pinned him in the chest against the chair, taking fistfuls of his shirt in his hands.

Light's body convulsed slightly as he was slammed back down, a little too hard, and he merely let out a startled whimper.

"Ryu…Ryu…Ryuza…"

"Shh. It's alright. Are YOU alright, however? What's with these actions…?"

It took a moment or two for Light to regain full perception, and he grit his teeth to steady his shaking.

"Night…N-Nightmare…"

L's eyes immediately narrowed in suspicion, and he leaned even closer to the younger male. His voice was bland and mucusy, however Light wasn't thinking of that. His mind was racing, and in the exact moment that L went to say, "I don't believe you" and how his knee-lock grip softened just a little, he was in for the cover up.

The words didn't even have time to pass as Light's arms came up to grip at his hair, and he was afraid for a moment that his neck was going to be twisted, but gave a small whimper of surprise as the boy's lips clashed with his own.

The all too familiar feeling of warmth pooled into his stomach, and his heart immediately sped up to jockey mode, and he was stunned for words. Light went to pull back, but L was quicker to react. On instinct he removed his knee from his chest and pulled him up completely, smashing their lips together once more.

It was messy and uneven, but the action was completely focused in pursuit of emotional expression, and it was Light's turn to be surprised.

"Ryu…" He muttered, before leaning into the kiss hungrily, curling his fingers into the older man's raven hair. L's fists clenched even harder, his knuckles going white, and he felt himself falling backwards onto the bed. Before he knew what was happening, Light's slender form was over him.

The boy had a sudden, new, rough outtake, and he bit his lip to hold back a guiltily pleasured respite as the boy's teeth clamped down on the skin of his neck. The warmth from his stomach spread to his thighs, and he wriggled a little excessively, his fingers still curled into shirt fabric.

Light's hold was firm, but not reassuring. It was rather violent, and to say the least, he was suddenly very afraid. The warmth came with a mixture of cold, and he weakly pushed upwards. "S-St…"

Light's impulsivity faltered slightly, and he sighed through his nose, the push of air making his skin tingle even more.

"St…S-Stop…" He mentally kicked himself for sounding so needy, so dependent and weak, but the ruffled teen seemed to get the message and lifted himself off, wiping his lips with a shaking hand.

L sat up immediately, and was about to round a kick in his direction to assert dominance, but the quick action caused his head to spin and he fell back down immediately.

L was in a pitiful state, his face covered in sweat (a mix from the cold and nervousness before), his groin area hard and his undermined position unwanted at best.

"You…you coward…" Was all he managed to utter, breathing heavily.

Light simply stood, giving him a wide-eyed look, and he tried uttering an apology, but it came out as a gurgled stutter. L rolled onto his stomach, and shuffled back beneath the covers, holding a hand up in defense.

"Don't bother, L-Light-kun…You may think you have bested…bested me…when I am vulnerable like this…but…you're wrong. Very wrong…you see, I have a card up my sleeve…"

Light's eyes narrowed, and he used the chair to steady himself, giving L a careful look. Was he going to charge him for sexual assault or something.

…That was hardly fair! The detective had actually kissed back…!

"You're going to get s-sick…like me…ehahah…" The laughter was cut off midway by a fit of coughing, and L groaned in distaste.

Light was still for a moment, before putting a hand to his own forehead and staring in disbelief downwards.

"…CRAP!"

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><p><strong>Alright, not a very long chapter, but it was all I managed to concoct after my absence. Hopefully that kiss scene is enough to make up for it…? XD<strong>

**R&R? NO flames or I burn you :3**


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